Michigan State's Blueprint for a Deep Run in the 2015 NCAA Tournament

The Michigan State Spartans have been an elite team in the Big Ten since they hired Tom Izzo as head coach in 1995.

The Spartans (23-11) have won one national championship and been to the Final Four six times during Izzo's tenure.

However, based on the way Michigan State played through the majority of the 2014-15 season, it does not seem logical to see the Spartans writing another magical chapter this time around. Michigan State does not have the star power some of the previous Michigan State teams have had, and that's a difficult issue to overcome.

But Izzo understands what March Madness is all about. His teams play hard for 40 minutes and do it as a unit. That could put the Spartans in a position to gather momentum and go on another memorable tournament run.

Fundamentally Sound

No matter how many or how few stars Izzo has had on his team, Michigan State has always played fundamentally sound basketball in the NCAA tournament.

That may not always be the case during the regular season, but by the time the Spartans get to the postseason, they are schooled in the way Izzo wants them to play the game.

Those fundamentals include hustling and working hard on the defensive end, pushing the ball upcourt with pace and taking advantage of any openings the defense leaves. It means protecting the ball, not turning it over and then working the ball around in the offensive zone and finding the open man to take the shot.

The most consistent aspect of Michigan State teams is that they are better at this point in the season than they are throughout the majority of the season. Izzo's lessons take hold, and the Spartans are ready to compete for 40 minutes without a letup.

Travis Trice's Speed and Scoring

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There may come a time when Izzo needs his most dynamic scorer to step up and make plays on the offensive end. While he has several offensive options, guard Travis Trice has the kind of speed and quickness that will allow him to get open and take big shots when the pressure is on.

Trice can knife through the defense and take the ball to the hole, and he can rise up from beyond the arc and hit the three-pointer. Going into the Big Ten championship game, Trice is averaging 14.7 points per game. And while his overall shooting percentage is just .391, he is shooting a respectable .366 from beyond the arc.

More than the numbers, Trice wants the ball in game situations and is not afraid to take over a game in the most crucial circumstances.

Denzel Valentine's All-Around Game

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If the Spartans are going to have a long run in this year's tournament, they are going to need some magical moments.

One player who is likely to be involved when the game is on the line is Denzel Valentine. He is the Spartans' second-leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points per game, but there is so much more to his game than scoring. He is a superb passer who can get the defender to leave his feet with his ball fakes and then take advantage of that by firing a pinpoint pass to the open man.

He can also hit the boards, defend well and he is always willing to take the charge when the opportunity presents itself. In short, he is an Izzo-type player who will do anything to help his team win.

When Valentine is having a sharp offensive game and shooting well, he can carry his team. But even when he is just average or even below in that area, he does so many other things well that he can make a huge difference in any game.

Branden Dawson's Rebounding

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One of the reasons the Spartans struggled to find their regular form throughout much of the season is that the frontcourt does not have the size of previous Michigan State teams.

However, even though the Spartans have often been the smaller team in stature, they have battled hard on the boards, and they have outrebounded their opponents by an average of 37.8-to-31.1 per game.

The big reason for this advantage is the aggressiveness and strength of forward Branden Dawson, who led the Big Ten with an average of 9.1 rebounds per game.

Despite those numbers, Dawson is not a big man. He checks in at 6'6" and 225 pounds and is regularly asked to battle much bigger frontcourt opponents. Dawson has never backed down, and he is also averaging 12.0 points per game.

He sets a tone for the Spartans, and his teammates regularly follow his lead.

X-Factors off the Bench

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Izzo knows he can't always depend on his starters to get the edge when the Spartans are playing the elite teams they will see once they get past the first couple of rounds of the NCAA tournament.

Izzo has several talented players who come off his bench who are not only capable of making solid offensive and defensive contributions, but also adding emotion to the equation. Two of those players include Matt Costello and Marvin Clark Jr.

Costello is a 6'9", 245-pound forward who can go down low and score, but he is also comfortable taking the open jump shot. Costello is averaging 7.4 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game. Clark does not have huge numbers, as he is averaging 4.9 points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game. However, he is a 6'6", 225-pound greyhound who can run like a sprinter and also has tremendous hops.

Clark's baseline drive-and-dunk against Maryland in the Big Ten semifinal helped infuse the Spartans with a dose of emotion and propel them to a comeback victory.

Unshakable Resiliency

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Resiliency is the signature of nearly all of Izzo's teams.

They may lose regular-season games against opponents like Duke, Kansas, Maryland and Wisconsin, but when the money is on the line, the Spartans know how to put earlier defeats behind them and compete on even terms with teams that may be more physically talented.

The Spartans may get behind early. But there is no disillusionment, and they regularly know how to mount comebacks. 

Izzo's teams stay calm when other teams panic. That was evident in the Big Ten semifinal, when the Spartans trailed by 16 points but still came back to defeat a strong Maryland team.

"To take that pummeling and then come back, I think that speaks something about the character of our team," Izzo told Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press. "This is the dream that I have every year: My team to be able to play for a championship. There's nothing more exciting to me than that. Nothing."

The Spartans are resilient, and they never give up.