Michigan State University Athletics
Grinz On Green: Spartans Aided By History
3/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com On-Line Columnist
Every time Matt Costello pulls down a rebound in Michigan State's NCAA Tournament opener against Georgia, he'll be channeling his inner Antonio Smith whether he knows it or not.
As Tum Tum Nairn pushes the ball up the court against the Bulldogs, he'll have former All-American point guard Mateen Cleaves as his wingman. And that'll be Morris Peterson's shadow shading Denzel Valentine with each three he launches.
The fact MSU is playing in its 18th consecutive NCAA tourney speaks to a remarkable show of consistency surpassed only by North Carolina with 27 straight appearances from 1975-2001, Kansas (26 from '90-present) and Duke (20 from '96-present). And head coach Tom Izzo's 13-4 record in the first game of the tournament is a significant bullet point on his Hall-of-Fame resume.
By contrast, Georgia's all-time tournament mark is 7-11 in 11 appearances. None of that will be foremost on the Spartans' minds once the ball is tipped off in Time Warner Cable Arena, but the soundtrack will be playing subliminally.
"There's that history in front of us, so we have to uphold that history by taking care of business," said Costello, who averaged 8.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in the Big Ten Tournament. "We have the opportunity to get to another Final Four -we just have to take care of our business."
Tradition has never made a buzzer-beating jump shot, but it is an integral part of MSU's master plan designed to put the players in position to make one.
"Once you're on the floor, you're playing the game," Costello said. "All that stuff is a part of preparation, making sure you're ready to do your job. Because of it, you try to work as hard as you can so you're best prepared for the game.
"At the end of the game, you may be reminded of it, but throughout the game you've just got to take care of business."
It's common to hear Michigan State players talk about representing those who came before them to build the program. It's also said that March is Izzo's month, and maybe that's because it's a renewal of the paces he's been putting the Spartans through since Smith, Cleaves and Peterson took him to the tournament for his first time as head coach in '98.
Only the mind-set has evolved.
Seniors Travis Trice and Branden Dawson don't know any other way.
As freshmen in 2012, they were part of the squad that began the tournament as a No. 1 seed in Columbus. The Draymond Green-led Spartans lost to Louisville in the West Regional semifinal. A year later, No. 3 MSU dropped the Midwest semi to Duke in Indianapolis and last year, Adreian Payne and Keith Appling became the first four-year players under Izzo not to reach a Final Four after No. 4 MSU fell to No. 7 Connecticut, 60-54, in the East Regional final in New York.
Georgia, meantime, is back in the tournament for the first time since 2011 and only one current Bulldog, senior forward Marcus Thornton, played in the 68-65 loss to Washington in the Round of 64.
"What we have that Georgia doesn't is experience," said Trice. "We're definitely battle-tested when it comes to tournaments and situations like this especially with some of the guys who've been through this. I think that only works to our advantage.
"All that being said, 18 straight years - some of us are barely over 18 years old -- really helps as far as preparation with the coaches, but your ranking, your seeding, all that, means nothing as soon as you get out on the court. You still have to go out there and put the ball in the hoop."
Georgia, a talented Southeastern Conference team that gave No. 1 and undefeated Kentucky two of its sternest tests of the season, comes into a the tournament as a team hungering for success, but no more so than MSU, according to Trice.
"We've got a lot of different aspects that feed into our drive right now," Trice said. "No. 1, some people were questioning whether we'd even get into the tournament. No. 2, last year, getting to the Elite Eight and being only four minutes away making it to the Final Four and keeping that senior streak alive still hurts.
"Our senior class (Trice and Dawson), we haven't been to a Final Four and the main reason why we chose to come to Michigan State was because of almost being guaranteed to go to a Final Four. So, that's in the back of our minds. And also, just how close our team is. We really want everybody to be successful and we want to get there as a team."
The Spartans silenced talk of possibly slipping off the bubble by winning 10 of their last 14 games. It's almost as if they didn't have any choice but to persevere through injuries, adversity and faulty free-throw shooting.
"It's not just about March to me; it's about the process to get to March," Izzo said. "But when we get close to March, I think every living alum thinks March is the time when we excel, and I think in a way it presents a little pressure.
"But, I think it's one of the rare times it's really, really good pressure. So many of our former players are calling or coming (to games). They just feel part of the family, part of the whole deal and I think that kind of pressure is positive."
Brooklyn Nets guard Alan Anderson, who led Michigan State to the 2005 Final Four, called Izzo after the Spartans suffered an overtime loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
"I hadn't talked to him for a while and his first thing was, `Coach, which player do you need me to call?'" Izzo said. "That is Utopia. It's something that coaches dream to have - a player-coached team or a former-player-coached team and that's what helps us."
And, Izzo said, there's a direct correlation to the success that has resulted in his Elite Eights and six Final Fours.
"That means deep runs in the tournament," Izzo said. "In 16, 18 years, that means you're doing it every other year and I think when you do it every other year it becomes part of the fabric of your program, and you try to tell guys don't feel the pressure of this - understand the privilege of this. And, I think they do.
"Georgia hasn't been there for a while. Just think how exciting it is for them, and I remember how excited we were the first time we went with that set of players. That raises their level. I think we have a little advantage in experience; I think they have a little advantage in first-time excitement and we'll see what the two will bring."
