Despite the disappointing finish to the season Monday Night, the Michigan State Spartans had a tremendous season. They had many players play well above expectations, won a ton of road games, and beat some very good teams. In the NCAA tournament they beat the best two teams in the Big East, which was no doubt the best conference in America this season.
The Michigan State Spartans had what many would call a disappointing non-conference performance. They did beat Oklahoma State,Kansas and Texas pretty handily, but had two bad losses to a young Maryland team, and then got demolished (for the first time) at Ford Field by North Carolina. The Spartans learned a lot about their team though early on. They learned that incoming Freshman Forwards Delvon Roe and Dreymond Green both would be able to contribute more than Coach Izzo had anticipated. They also learned that this team was not the same without Goran Suton, and that the team is more successful when Point Guard Kalin Lucas is a scorer and not a facilitator.
State opened up Big Ten play with a road game @ undefeated Minnesota. The Spartans won that game easily, and would go on to 8-1 road record in conference play. Michigan State would end up 15-3 in 18 conference games, 4 games ahead of the 2nd place Purdue Boilermakers. It seemed nationally that the focus on the Spartans was the fact that they had some bad losses in conference play (PSU/NW @ home and OSU in the BTT), not the fact that they were 8-1 on the road, or 4 games above the rest of the competition. Come tourney time, the Spartans would prove that they had gained strength throughout the season.
Then came the NCAA Tournament. MSU was awarded a 2 seed for their efforts. In the first round they won easily, as they should vs an overmatched Robert Morris squad. They would move on to face a talented USC team coming off a Pac 10 Tourney Title. The Spartans would prevail vs the Trojans behind the timely scoring splurge coming from Travis Walton jumpshots.
That would move the Spartans into the Sweet 16 vs an improved Kansas team. The Jayhawks would prove to be a very tough opponent, leading by 9 points at Halftime. Izzo would then switch the guard matchups defensively and Senior Travis Walton would go on to shut down Sharon Collins in the 2nd half. Kalin Lucas would hit a "and 1" leaning jumpshot in the last minute of the game to win it for the Spartans.
Then would come the elite 8. Going into the Elite 8 the Spartans were the longshot (vegas odds) amongst the teams remaining. That was understandable because they were facing the overall #1 seed in the Louisville Cardinals. This game was where Izzo shined particularly. He forced his team to slow down, all season they tried to run, and for this one game he knew the slower the better. The Spartans held the Cardinals team to an unbelievable 52 points and won easily in the 2nd half. ON TO THE FINAL 4 FOR THE 5TH TIME IN 11 YEARS.
Once they got there they would face a Uconn team led by 7'3 center Hasheem Thabeet. This would prove to be a very tough game, but the Spartans game plan of shutting down Uconn guard AJ Price (5/20) would prove to be key. The Spartans scored 82 points vs one of the best defensive teams in the nation. Raymar Morgan had 18 points, his first big game since his sickness halfway through the season.
MSU would go on to lose the National Championship to North Carolina. Marking the 2nd time that the Tarheels would beat Michigan State at Ford Field. This was one team that Izzo and MSU had no answers for.
Michigan State basketball in 2009 was the Big Ten Champ (by 4 games), the Big 12 champ (beat Kansas twice, Oklahoma State and Texas), and the Big East Champ (beating L'ville and Uconn in the NCAA Tournament). Izzo once again proved his tournament prowess. MSU should control recruiting in Detroit for the next 100 years (following what was an amazing weekend in "THE D"). Maybe most importantly the Spartans return a strong squad next season.
Incoming recruits:
6'10 C Garrick Sherman (compared to Goran Suton with better post moves)
6'9 PF Derrick Nix (lost 40 lbs Sr Year, Won Mr. Basketball (MI) needs to lose 20 more lbs)
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