If head coach Tom Izzo’s reign at Michigan State has been characterized by one maxim, it is this: Never count out the Spartans in March.
Never has that been clearer than this season.
Michigan State (28-8) was already having a tough season entering its second-round matchup with No. 4 Maryland. The Spartans, ranked No. 2 in the preseason, struggled with inconsistency and injuries all year, culminating in an overtime loss to Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
Then star point guard Kalin Lucas, the hero of the fifth-seeded Spartans’ first-round win over New Mexico State, landed awkwardly on his left leg after making a runner in the first half against the Terrapins. Lucas tore his Achilles tendon, and Michigan State was forced to continue without its leader in points, assists and minutes played.
To make matters worse, the Spartans were also dealing with injuries to Chris Allen and Delvon Roe, and Raymar Morgan had his tooth knocked out later in the Maryland game.
But Izzo and the Spartans, as they have done so often, found a way.
They allowed a fierce Terrapin comeback in the final minutes but won the game on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Korie Lucious, Lucas’s replacement. Two wins later, after victories over Northern Iowa and Tennessee, they’re back in the Final Four for the sixth time in the past 12 years.
“[The injury] part of it has been a little more unnerving than some Final Four runs,” Izzo said. “It’s made it more satisfying, too. I think it’s what I look at now and say, ‘Wow, you know, our guys really did do what you asked them to do.’ They’ve handled some adversity, and they’ve sucked it up and toughed it out. And we’re heading to Indy, and that’s awesome.”
Michigan State did it by patching together a point guard rotation consisting of Lucious, former walk-on Mike Kebler and even 6-foot-6, 235-pound forward Draymond Green. It hasn’t been easy—the Spartans’ four wins have come by an aggregate total of 13 points—but so far, Michigan State has been able to get enough production from the point guard position to keep on winning.
“We’ve had good success during the years, and I think we’ve just been fortunate in these Final Fours,” Izzo said. “You’ve got to be good and you’ve got to be lucky, and we’ve been a little bit of both.”
That has certainly been true in this year’s Tournament. As well as the Spartans have played, they have also caught a few breaks. A last-minute lane violation helped seal their first-round win over New Mexico State. Perhaps more importantly, they did not have to play any of the top three teams in the Midwest Region: No. 9 Northern Iowa knocked off top seed Kansas in the second round, No. 6 Tennessee defeated No. 2 Ohio State in the Elite 8 and No. 3 Georgetown lost to 14-seed Ohio in the first round.
But Michigan State will take it, and now the Spartans are off to Indianapolis, where they are a perfect 7-0 in NCAA Tournament play. They will face a Butler team that should have a decided home court advantage, but after everything the Spartans have endured this season, don’t expect them to be fazed.
“We’re going to stick together,” Green said. “We still have a goal. We still are playing for ourselves, the program, but we’re still playing for Kalin Lucas as well. He carried us through a game and a half, and he carried us when we he was in there, when he went down. So we know we have to keep carrying him.”
So far, the Spartans have found a way to carry Lucas to Indianapolis, where he will watch from the bench as his teammates compete in their second consecutive Final Four.
Last year’s run, with Detroit as the host city, was heartwarming. This season’s is improbable.
“I appreciate each one,” Izzo said of his many trips to the Final Four. “Sometimes things come—like the year after we went to the first one, it seemed like we should’ve got back to the next one, and we did. And then there’s years like 2005 or maybe this year, where you say, ‘Where did it come from?’”
If the past 12 years have taught college basketball fans anything, it’s that they should never react that way to a Final Four that includes Michigan State. And they shouldn’t be shocked if somehow, some way, Izzo and Co. manage to cut down the nets in Indy.
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