Determined Spartans Chase Championship Goals

Oct. 27, 2015

One national championship and seven Final Fours in 17 seasons would be considered "great" by any human measure.

Make that superhuman.

However, for the 2015-16 Michigan State basketball team, "great" won't be good enough.

It's not that Coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans will ever tire of raising Final Four banners, like the one from last season, up to the rafters in the Breslin Center. But they are getting weary of not bringing home a trophy to match the one Michigan State won in 2000.

And so, Izzo's 21st team, unveiled Tuesday at MSU's annual Basketball Media Day, declared its intention of winning the NCAA title with nary an "if," "but" or "maybe" in earshot.

If last year's underpowered team -- which few saw advancing beyond the national tournament's first weekend -- could make it to Indianapolis more on guts and guile than talent and ability, then this year's squad should be able to go one better, the Spartans reason.

What's more, those MSU players thought they should have won it all with since-departed seniors Travis Trice and Branden Dawson in spite of its shortcomings. This season's squad, led by seniors Denzel Valentine and Bryn Forbes in the backcourt and Matt Costello on the front line, have talent, experience, depth, multiple skill-sets and versatility, so why not dream big to the ultimate power?

"Leaving the floor in Indianapolis last year was one of the hardest moments of my life just because we wanted to get to Indy last year, we got there, but we didn't get the job done," said sophomore point guard Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn Jr., who was elected tri-captain with Valentine and Costello. "So I know everybody on the team had a different fight going into the offseason.

"We just wanted to focus on winning the national championship. Coach has won one, so he definitely knows what it takes. Like coach said, the motto this year is to take it to another level so we're going to continue to work as hard as we can every day win a national championship."

With MSU facing another brutal non-conference schedule and a Big Ten lineup as strong as Izzo's seen in decades, the pressure of producing under the weight of such high expectations could be daunting, but Nairn simply shrugged off that notion.

"I think this team is special because we stick together," he said. "We do so much off the court together it makes us want to do so much more for each other on the court. I know there's going to be some adversity like there was last year, losing to Texas Southern and losing the Big Ten Tournament championship game (to Wisconsin in overtime), but all that stuff brought us even closer.

"So I feel like whatever comes this year is just going to bring us closer again. We're not going to go our separate ways if something goes wrong; we're going to stick together."

Izzo, who is just five victories away from his 500th win and 17 behind former Purdue coach Gene Keady for second place on the all-time Big Ten list, could love this team because it's packed with gym rats who have spent countless hours on their own honing their craft. Or, because in Valentine he has another charismatic leader who can do it all â€" shoot, score, pass, defend and rebound â€" as well as any guard in the country. Or, because with Nairn and swingman Javon Bess he's got tough-minded defenders to complement the scoring prowess of Valentine, West Virginia-transfer Eron Harris and Forbes, an outside gunner who is noticeably stronger.

Or, Izzo may "feel better this year than I've felt in 10 years" because of the way this whole national-championship initiative got started.

"Honestly, we're the ones who said it to him first, so he's holding us accountable because we brought it to him," Costello said. "In team meetings, after the year, after everybody chilled out after the Final Four, we got a little break and he asked, ‘What do you want to do?' And we all said we want to win the national championship.

"We want that pressure. We asked for it and he's more than happy to do it, and he's more than happy to hold us accountable. It started with Zel, me and Tum, and everybody else just followed suit. Of course, he's always going to push for the best you can do, but that's what we're shooting for."

It's not like Izzo needed the players' permission to demand their best. He would have done that, regardless, because he always has. But he acknowledged that a different type of energy comes from players wanting to make that type of contract with him.

"As you well know, I believe a player-coached team is better than a coach-coached team," Izzo said. "But nowadays it's almost like you have to ask your players, ‘Will you please play hard?' or risk hurting their feelings. So, there is something to that."

For as enthused as Izzo was last season, Harris feels his excitement has reached another level.

"We're a family so we all want the same thing," Harris said. "But first, he has to know we want it and after we tell him, whether it's winning a championship, making it to the pros or academic, or getting a job, he's going to hold us to that standard.

"He is going to keep you to your word. It's not scary. I'd rather somebody keep it real with me. If somebody's (kidding) themselves, he's going to let them know what's real and I appreciate that." The camaraderie and chemistry Izzo credited for last season's run is just as strong, if not stronger, than last year.

But with Valentine, Harris, Nairn, Forbes, Bess and freshman Matt McQuaid, MSU has a backcourt designed for the postseason, where guard-play can be pivotal. Plus, a stronger Costello, who has added an outside scoring touch to his inside game, and dynamic junior power forward Gavin Schilling, who has shown as much improvement over the summer as any player Izzo's had, will be augmented by 6-foot-10 freshman Deyonta Davis, the former McDonald's All-American and reigning Michigan Mr. Basketball from Muskegon High.

"We can go super-big, super-small or somewhere in between," Costello said.

It's going to be up to Valentine, Costello and Forbes to provide the senior leadership most champions seems to have. And if the free-throw shooting improves dramatically, as expected, and Costello and Schilling can manage their foul counts, and the offense and defense follow, MSU will be a complete package.

"I've played in all the big games you can, besides the national championship, and so have a lot of people on this team," Valentine said. "There's not going to be a lot pressure on just me, or Matt or Bryn. There's going to be pressure on everybody because everybody can do a lot of things. The Final Four last year brought new life. We didn't have the most-talented team, but we just stayed to our principles and got to a Final Four. We have more potential than last year just because of all the weapons and players we've got.

"I think that's why (Izzo) is so excited. You see it each day in practice, how consistent we are, shooting, defense, everything overall. We just look like a team that could win a national championship."