Time to Believe: Surprising Michigan State Streaks into 2015 Final Four

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Amid the celebration after Michigan State's win over Louisville in the East's regional final Sunday, 

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the Spartans players sought the one man who hadn't yet taken a piece of net. They looked around, yelled for him. The pep band even roused itself from baseline seats once Tom Izzo ended a conversation and strolled to the ladder.

It had been a while since the Spartans' adored leader had achieved these intoxicating heights, and this one definitely felt different. He said it leading up to the chance to play Louisville on Sunday. His moist eyes and the tight hugs he dished out added to the affirmation. Achieving a nylon conquest at the Carrier Dome, the fight song played, the coach saluted. He snipped and smiled mightily.

When asked why this upcoming Final Four appearance means so much, he can really cut to the heart of the matter. There were early-season misgivings, free-throw shanks, competition that, frankly, seemed way above the Spartans' pay grade.

“I’d like to tell you I thought five different times this year we were good enough to get to a Final Four,” Izzo said not long after earning his first Final Four bid since 2010. “But I’d be lying to you. I just wasn’t sure we had enough size, enough talent in certain areas.”

A 76-70 overtime triumph may be the most special of his fabulous career’s success stories. And for all of the doubters out there, who can assuredly bet against them now in a two-game season?

The seventh-seeded Spartans are far from done in this tournament. Now slotted as the underdog surrounded by No. 1 seeds, they are ready to own that label.

They’re in contention, regardless of the number to the left of their name—difficult to beat with several days’ notice and nearly impossible to handle with only a day of prep time thanks to Izzo.

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“They were just tearing us apart in every aspect. But we all got together and fought together,” MSU’s Bryn Forbes said, noting an eight-point halftime deficit that you just knew wasn’t going to hold as long as Izzo was around.

That would be like an MSU basketball game these days going on without some reference to and crowd shot of Magic Johnson.

Oh, and speaking of magic—the Spartans improved to 20-4 under “Turnaround Tom” in NCAA tournament games with only one day of prep time.

How he does it—why these spunky Spartans are still playing— is as critical as the talent itself. This isn’t Izzo’s best collection; with a 27-11 record, it will be a clear underdog in Indianapolis later this week against Duke, and either Kentucky or Wisconsin if it happens to win Saturday. 

Yet, none of that seems to matter to this team.  

That success is a two-pronged, synchronized attack with a savvy head coach. First, Izzo knows just what buttons to press within the preparation time, without letting players get bogged down in details. It’s about 10 or 15 minutes of film—respecting weary attention spans and tired bodies.

Then it’s also about a simple message. Before the game, Izzo wrote this particular one on the blackboard: “2 hours/Memory for Life.”

Earlier in the day, he also had a heart-to-heart in front of the team, calling out Branden Dawson. The sometimes-mercurial senior apologized in front of the team after Friday night’s game, dismayed at his own effort against Oklahoma. He spent five minutes thanking the group for essentially extending his career.

Izzo praised Dawson for the mea culpa a few hours before facing Louisville, telling him he knew now exactly how much the game and the team meant to the senior—and he’d never question him again.

“Let’s make sure you leave it all on the court,” assistant coach Dane Fife said, recalling Izzo’s message, and then Izzo addressed the team.

“Powerful stuff,” Fife said. 

Dawson’s career came amazingly full circle, from a lot of potential to full execution, with a remarkable putback of a missed Bryn Forbes three-pointer that put the Spartans ahead by four with 30 seconds left.

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The Spartans overcame a scorching first half from Montrezl Harrell, and Izzo’s head went into whiplash mode a couple of times after Terry Rozier turned three steals into a nonchalant six points. The Spartans don't have that kind of breathing room, even on their best days. The raspy-voiced coach has been around long enough to know that.

“We don’t make it easy,” Izzo said to the crowd with a microphone. “But we’re going to the Final Four.”

And they’re going to be a Webster’s definition of a “hard out.”

MSU may have been the most pressure-packed No. 7 seed ever.

Last March ended in the Elite Eight in heart-shattering fashion. Go figure—UConn was a No. 7 seed that went on to win the national championship. But the outcome was a devastating historical marker for Izzo’s program, because it produced unfortunate trivia answers in Keith Appling and Adreian Payne—the first MSU seniors in Izzo’s 20 years to not reach a Final Four. That burden wasn't going away without a win against the Cardinals.

"You feel for those guys that kind of were tagged with the burden of being the first team that the seniors didn't make it because it's kind of ridiculous when you think about it," Izzo said before facing Louisville. "I mean, it was something that was going to end sooner or later."

Izzo praised this year's veterans for being “on a mission to maybe start their own legacy.”

This will be Izzo’s seventh Final Four, and he certainly appreciated what he has no problem calling "a surprise" of an achievement to get this far. He wiped his brow repeatedly and tears filled his eyes as he hugged staff, alumni and current players not long after the final horn. To compare the program to a similar level with the Badgers, Blue Devils or Wildcats is completely fair. But regarding this particular team, it just hasn't been close.

The East Region turned wide open, starting with top-seeded Villanova going down last weekend. That part of the bracket gave a spry team like MSU just enough wiggle room. It ousted Virginia at its own game to reach the Sweet 16, then dismissed Oklahoma with just enough of that classic Izzo grit and guts.

It may have been Izzo's most meaningful win ever, in large part because of the way his players reacted.

Several Spartans noted they had never seen Travis Trice—so ill a few years ago—actually cry.

“You don’t ever want to see your baby cry,” said his mother, Julie, wearing a No. 20 jersey herself. “But this time, I just told him, ‘Let it go.'”

It seems like all year, MSU’s just been trying to hold on. It was shaken by a home overtime loss to Texas Southern in late December. Free-throw woes threatened to undermine a team that was otherwise unified. Back-to-back losses right before the Big Ten tournament to Minnesota and Wisconsin made Spartan Nation wonder.

Then even the first half against Louisville, Michigan State played from behind and couldn't stop the Cardinals.

Izzo credited his staff for pulling the Spartans along, too. This was a major confidence hurdle cleared.

MSU can put the modesty away. Tum Tum Nairn Jr. sure did.

“Did you see me on TV? Did you see us on TV?” he screamed into a cell phone as a CBS camera panned by while the Spartans were on stage accepting their regional championship trophy.

The TV time is just getting started. So is Izzo, whose talents, energy and experience become the great wild card of the tournament's final weekend.

“I just love to work at this time of year,” he said.

Jason Franchuk covered BYU basketball for the Provo (Utah) Daily Herald for 11 years, including all of "Jimmer Mania," and now resides in Albany, New York. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.