What a bittersweet end for two MSU teams.
After making it to the glory land - the Final Four and the Frozen Four - the Spartan basketball and hockey teams bowed out without reaching one championship game between them.
Both teams had remarkable seasons, but both ended the same way - in shockingly uncharacteristic and uninspired performances.
Doubt lingered concerning the gigantic holes in leadership and spirit that former Spartan and current Detroit Pistons guard Mateen Cleaves took with him.
The season was spectacular in almost every way, as the Spartans were undefeated in the preseason, and won their fourth-consecutive Big Ten regular-season title.
The senior class also became the winningest in Big Ten history, claiming 115 career wins. It led the team as it breezed through the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the third-straight year.
And it did it all with a mental toughness that was head coach Tom Izzo’s favorite slogan.
Then, on the biggest stage of the year, the Final Four, the Spartans were embarrassed. They played sloppy. They were schooled by the Arizona Wildcats.
It didn’t seem like the team that had persevered in so many hard situations all season. Granted, there were flashes of that uncharacteristic play in games against Ohio State and Penn State, but no one expected this.
No one expected only three points from senior guard Charlie Bell.
Maybe no one expected us to win it all, but no one thought we’d lose looking so bad.
But that wasn’t the biggest shock of the year.
The MSU hockey team entered the Frozen Four in Albany, N.Y., as the highly touted and undisputed favorite.
And with good reason - MSU won the CCHA regular-season and tournament titles. The team was ranked No. 1 in the national poll since Nov. 13. It lost only four times all season - and like basketball, went undefeated out of its conference.
Then there was sophomore goaltender Ryan Miller.
He broke the 70-year-old NCAA record for shutouts with his 17th career blanking in February. He was top in four goaltending categories. And Friday he was awarded college hockey’s most prestigious award - the Hobey Baker Award.
With a top-ranked defense and a calm, get-the-job-done demeanor, everyone expected the hockey team to be the one to capture it all.
It even had emotion on its side, because it hadn’t won a title in 15 years despite showing up in four Frozen Fours.
Instead of dominating the Fighting Sioux’s rumored offense with its own stifling defense, MSU couldn’t break through North Dakota’s surprisingly strong defense.
Fans expected the same confident team they had been watching all season, and like their basketball counterparts, the hockey players just looked out of it.
After giving up two quick goals in the first period, MSU spent the game playing panicky. The Spartans lost, and North Dakota advanced to the title game, only to lose to Boston College.
And when the Boston College players threw their gloves and sticks in the air and celebrated on the ice Saturday night, it just seemed wrong.
Wasn’t this supposed to be our year?
So why did both teams choke? Was it the pressure of being a No. 1 seed? Maybe someone put a hex on our athletics program. Or maybe for reasons that are unexplainable, the balls didn’t fall right and the pucks missed our sticks.
Maybe it really wasn’t our year after all.
The accomplishments of both teams are extraordinary, and by no means was this year a downer for either.
But here’s hoping next year those balls fall and those pucks land a little longer than they did this year.
Krista Latham, a State News sports reporter, can be reached at lathamkr@msu.edu.
