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MSU basketball's rally cry turns into results

March 31, 2015
<p>Head coach Tom Izzo and his team celebrates the win after cutting the net March 29, 2015, during the East Regional round of the NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight against Louisville at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The Spartans defeated the Cardinals, 76-70. Erin Hampton/The State News</p>

Head coach Tom Izzo and his team celebrates the win after cutting the net March 29, 2015, during the East Regional round of the NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight against Louisville at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The Spartans defeated the Cardinals, 76-70. Erin Hampton/The State News

Photo by Erin Hampton | The State News

Throughout the entire summer, the MSU basketball players sculpted their mindsets around one thing — Indy.

Following a 76-70 win against Louisville, the Spartans have turned the battle cry into results.

“In the summer, we would all text each other, ‘Indy, Indy, Indy,’” junior guard Denzel Valentine said. “We would say that every huddle. Through an up-and-down season, we stayed together, stayed strong, believed in ourselves. We had upperclassmen step up and make plays, and now we’re in Indy.”

Head coach Tom Izzo called this year’s run the most improbable of his now seven Final Four appearances, but refused to rank it among his others.

Following last year’s loss to Connecticut in the Elite Eight, the team was devastated. 2014 was supposed to yield another national championship and a Final Four at the very least.

For senior guard Travis Trice, the loss is seen in a different light now.

“Looking back, I know this is going to sound crazy ... I’m kind of happy that we did lose last year because it makes us feel so much better to be on the other side of it,” Trice said. “It’s been motivation.”

The loss was certainly a motivating factor, but so too was the site of this year’s Final Four. MSU has seen success in Indianapolis throughout the years. It’s where Izzo won his first national championship in 2000 and returned to a Final Four in 2010.

Although the team repeatedly brought up ‘Indy’ in the summer and through the early parts of this season, Izzo said he halted the mantra in early February.

“I said ‘That’s over,’ Izzo said. “We’re not talking about Indy. We’re not worthy of it. We haven’t played well enough. We haven’t played hard enough.”

Izzo flipped the tables on his players and Indy wasn’t discussed anymore in the locker room. MSU went through a rough patch and within the team, it felt like everybody counted the Spartans out.

“There came a point in the year where it was just us, just the people in our locker room and our program,” Trice said. “ I’m just more happy for us as a whole. We stuck together. We could have quit. We could have rolled over and died, but we didn’t. We just kept fighting.

After two months of grinding and four NCAA Tournament wins, Indianapolis and the Final Four can be discussed once again.

“We got to huddle up, say where we’re going, and there was some moments to that statement,” Izzo said. “ It was pretty cool the way the guys felt about it, pretty cool.

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