I laughed when someone described Tom Izzo as God. I thought a co-worker was crazy when he referred to the men's basketball media guide as the Bible.
Sure, I've heard about the storied history - the national championships, the Big Ten Tournament titles - the list goes on. But God? The Bible? Huh?
It wasn't until I attended my first Midnight Madness that I finally knew and actually felt the pure passion everyone has for MSU basketball and Izzo.
I've never seen a group of 14,000 people shut up and sit down as quickly as they did when Izzo asked us to take our seats because he wanted to talk to us.
It gave me goosebumps.
From hearing him speak at Midnight Madness, from the media and from what I've been hearing in general, it seems as if anything less than a trip down to San Antonio for the Final Four will be considered an unsuccessful season.
For Izzo, he has nothing else to prove. He's got his national championship, four regular-season Big Ten Tournament titles, three National Coach of the Year awards and the best NCAA Tournament winning percentage.
The greatest thing about him is that he makes it seem as if he doesn't have any of those. His desire to win at all costs seems to be there every year. So the motivation is there.
Athlon Sports predicts MSU to be runner-up to UConn in the preseason poll. A handful of other publications all have the Spartans in the top five. So the hype also is there.
It's a matter of fulfilling the hype this time around.
We can agree the team was expected to make it past the Elite Eight last season, but "they were young" and "injuries hampered them" are legitimate reasons, right?
Basketball is basketball, but MSU basketball is a whole other story.
And shouldn't sports be that way? Why limit yourself to mediocrity if you want to become the best?
Just go out, and be the best.
Being the best means recruiting the top talent, which the basketball team seems to be committed to doing every year.
I've heard about Paul Davis since I was a sophomore in high school. Wait, that's when I heard that he committed to MSU his sophomore year at Rochester High School.
Junior guard Kelvin Torbert was the best shooting guard in the nation coming out of high school and junior guard Chris Hill scored 34 points in a loss to Syracuse last season.
Even though new players seem to come and go faster than a revolving door - only two seniors grace the current roster - and even though the Spartans have been bothered by injuries in the recent past, they continue to work their schedule to face some of the toughest teams in the nation.
Even their motto is "players play, tough players win." Top teams MSU will face this season include Kansas, Syracuse and Duke.
They'll also attract more fans and more attention at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Dec. 6 vs. Oklahoma and on Dec. 13 vs. Kentucky at Ford Field as MSU looks to break the single-game attendance record for BasketBowl.
That's another 61,000 of us cheering on the team. Impressive or scary? I guess it depends whether you ask a Spartans fan or a Wildcats fan.
I'm sure all the Izzone members will be there - hats off to you. It's a testament to your devotion game in and game out to make Breslin Center the most intimidating place for opponents to play.
The bets will be made, and the brackets will be filled in about five months from now. I plan on cheering every step of the way.
Until then, grab your Bibles and pray to God.
Esther Gim is a State News intern. If you've got tickets in the nosebleed section as well, she'd like to hear your rants at gimesthe@msu.edu
