Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Face Virginia for Trip to Sweet 16
3/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist | @GrinzOnGreen
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - No one promised Michigan State there wouldn't be any heavy lifting during the early stages of the NCAA Tournament.
Sure, if the Spartans had been a No. 6 seed instead of 7, their path to the Sweet 16 would have appeared to be a little bit easier, on paper anyway. Assuming they would have beaten a No. 11 in their first game, they would be facing a No. 3 or a No. 14 on Sunday.
Instead, MSU had to defeat a high-caliber 10-seed in Georgia, 70-63, Friday for the right to play No. 2 Virginia at Time Warner Cable Arena on Sunday.
The rematch of last season's East Regional semifinal between the Spartans and the Cavaliers is taking place one game sooner than it could have had Michigan State been seeded one spot higher, which at Saturday's media session evoked a response of: What difference does it make?
"Yeah, you know, it's tough," said junior guard Denzel Valentine. "We're in the third round and we're already playing a 2-seed, a great team like Virginia, but it is what it is. The tournament was set up like this for a reason and we're not scared to play anybody at any time.
"So we're just coming in with the mindset that we can win this game if we do what we do and we're solid. I think we'll be fine."
To advance to a fourth consecutive Sweet 16, Michigan State will have to beat a Cavalier team that won the ACC regular-season championship. Virginia had been projected as a 1-seed for much of the season, only to slip after losing two of its last three games before Selection Sunday.
However, if the NCAA Tournament has taught us anything over the years, it's that picking winners solely based on seeding can be risky.
The Spartans were a 4-seed a year ago when Branden Dawson scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while leading them to a 61-59 victory against top-seeded Virginia in New York's Madison Square Garden. The seeding was rendered even more irrelevant when Michigan State then lost to seventh-seeded Connecticut in the Elite Eight and the Huskies went on to win the National Championship.
"From looking at our bracket, we kind of had in our mind we were going to play Virginia again; we just had to focus on Georgia," said Dawson, a senior forward. "This is March and you're going to go up against any good team at this point. We're ready to play anyone at this point, this is what this tournament's about."
Added senior guard Travis Trice, "If we didn't play them now we would probably have to play them later on. Like we said, we're not scared to play anybody. We're ready to play."
As a 7-seed in 2004, MSU lost to No. 10 Nevada in the first round. The previous year, the No. 7 Spartans advanced to the South Regional final in San Antonio, where they lost to Texas. Michigan State's other experience as a seven came in 1994, when they lost to No. 2 Duke in the second round in St. Petersburg, Fla.
"Tum Tum" Nairn Jr., a native of Nassau, The Bahamas, and a true freshman point guard, is happily oblivious to Michigan State and Virginia's numerical ratings.
"This is my first taste of it, so at this point I'm just playing basketball," Nairn said. "I'm really not worried about what the seeds are because at the end of the day, it's the same game, same ball. At this point, it does matter because it's one-and-done.
"If a 12-seed beats a 1-seed, the 1-seed still goes home. Our job is just to do everything we can to get a win."
A more reliable predictor, in terms of MSU's chances of advancing to the next round in Syracuse, N.Y., is its record in the Round of 32, where the Spartans are 12-1 under head coach Tom Izzo and 14-4 all-time.
Izzo credits much of that success to a blueprint for a second-game turnaround he and his assistant coaches developed over the years, a heavier reliance on film study than most other basketball coaches (at least early on) and most importantly, the players' ability to execute the plan with just one day of preparation.
"We do things in 15- and 20-minute intervals, after a game, before breakfast, after breakfast, before lunch, after lunch," Izzo said. "It's about trying to keep the focus, which is very hard to do at this time of year because there are parents and families at the hotel, there are games on TV, there are upsets happening, and I know the attention span isn't as good when you're fatigued and tired.
"So we've gone with this model."
Repeating the kind of lapses that nearly cost MSU two substantial leads against Georgia could prove fatal against Virginia, which epitomizes methodical, disciplined and hard-nosed basketball. The Cavaliers are coached by Tony Bennett, whose father Dick made life miserable for Big Ten opponents as the head coach at Wisconsin from 1995-2001.
"Great respect, I guess, would be the first thing; appreciation for how hard his teams play and how solid they are," Izzo said. "They're about as mistake-free as a team on both ends of the court offensively and defensively. You're going to earn your keep when you play them."
It won't be unusual for Virginia to run 30 seconds off the shot clock before attempting a shot.
"Focus is the key word right now," Izzo said. "We know we're tired; some of those guys played a lot of minutes. Can we stay focused for those long possessions with the constant screens and re-screens that they do, and they're so good at it? It's going take some discipline and it's going to take a better job of substituting on my part because when guys get tired, that's when they lose focus."
The Spartans' bench was the difference against Georgia, especially with Dawson sitting out the last 14 minutes of the first half because of foul trouble and starting power forward Gavin Schilling playing a total of just four minutes for the same reason.
Bryn Forbes, with 14 points, and Marvin Clark Jr., with six, accounted for all but two of MSU's 22 points off the bench to 10 for the Bulldogs. Michigan State turned an 11-5 deficit into a 35-22 halftime advantage with reserves on the floor.
"Our bench is going to be essential," Clark said. "We've got a lot of confidence, but that just comes from our team. They give us all that confidence and we look at ourselves like everybody can contribute and everybody can play worthy minutes.
"The most important thing we can contribute is quality minutes - don't come in and make dumb, mental mistakes. That's why we have to stay focused because (the Cavaliers) take advantage of your mistakes. When we go in, we can't miss a step, we can't miss a beat. We've got to be locked in from the jump just like our starters are."
