And at MSU’s men’s basketball Media Day on Wednesday, Izzo said his team will continue to use those strengths and fight hard in the weeks leading up to its first preseason game (Nov. 5 vs. Northern Michigan) in order to get to a specific point as a unit — confident to take on the Big Ten schedule.

“If anybody thinks we’re going undefeated this year, we’re probably not,” Izzo said. “That’s a bad thing for a coach to say because you’re looking at the negatives, but I’m trying to make sure everybody understands that what we do is not what everybody else does.”

Although each program has its own set of practice drills, pre-game rituals and other ways of building a program, Izzo said it’s “players that play the game,” and not always so much every little thing the school does.

In that sense, he’s content with the team he’s going to war with in a few weeks. He just wants the entire program to get to a point where they won’t drop games they’re supposed to win, especially in conference play.

“I think what fell short last year was our Big Ten performance,” Izzo said. “I’m not ready to say the season fell short; we still played one of the toughest schedules and won 27 games. It is hard to keep expectations and reality up with what goes on in college basketball.”

But his team is way ahead of him, wanting nothing more than to smack around the Big Ten teams and roll to a conference championship. That’s the goal and each one of them is hungry for it.

“We’re going to go out there and prove ourselves and show everyone that we can play with anyone, anywhere,” senior guard Travis Walton said. “There ain’t no taking us down if we’re playing at the top of our game. That’s the truth.”

The Spartans are known for having it embedded into their brains to take one game at a time, never focusing on something too far ahead.

But when something is almost too good to be true, it’s hard not to dream.

And even Izzo said with the Final Four being hosted in Detroit, he can’t help but think about it every so often. The coach assumes his team dreams about it every night — which they do.

“That’s the biggest thing that everyone’s been thinking about,” junior forward Raymar Morgan said. “That’s our main goal, to get to Detroit, and if we can go on a great run.”

One of the hot topics Wednesday was the hyped-up backcourt of Walton and sophomore Kalin Lucas — a one-two punch that Izzo has an extreme amount of confidence in.

“First of all, it doesn’t hurt to have two leaders, especially if they get along. But I think (Lucas) has to take over some of that, I really do. And I think he’s ready to do that and I don’t think that’s going to cause any problems with anybody else either.”

And Izzo said Lucas had the best (basketball) summer out of anybody on his team, competing against some of the best point guards across the nation at camp along with improving his shooting tremendously.

With the promise that Lucas shows blending in with the leadership Walton will continue to develop, it only bodes well for the outcome of the tough schedule MSU finds itself competing in.

“(Walton) has to be the heart and soul with his toughness and leadership,” Izzo said. “And now, instead of becoming a complete liability offensively, I think he’ll be a situational scorer that will be able to make shots when open instead of just passing them up.”

As for the three incoming freshmen, sophomore forward Durrell Summers said he and the rest of the team have made it as easy of a transition for the new guys as possible, sticking close to them and filling them in on mistakes they made so they don’t go down the same path.

“We tell them all the time, like little stories about how hard it was sometimes, how easy it was and how we adjusted from this to that,” Summers said. “That’s the same stuff the older guys did for us last year. And I think that really helps the team overall.”