Seattle - A view from a mountaintop was the beginning. A river of tears and a final slip, one that mirrored the entire season, was the end.
The year of hopes and dreams for the Spartans came crashing down Thursday evening as Nevada upset MSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 72-66.
"I think we just ran out of gas," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "We ran out of gas the whole season. Maybe it just wasn't our time and our turn."
The Spartans (18-12) began the year near the top of the college basketball world. They were tabbed No. 3 in the preseason, a spot that signified an expected trip to the Final Four.
The Big Ten was theirs for the taking, as no team had generated as much hype as MSU, who had reached the Elite Eight the previous season.
A murderers' row nonconference schedule - which featured Kansas, Duke, Oklahoma, Kentucky, UCLA and Syracuse - was sure to produce at least a couple of wins, right?
It did the opposite, giving MSU six losses - not a single victory.
At least the Spartans would be prepared for whatever the rest of the season would throw at them. That, of course, was the hope.
MSU's season hit a low point in early January. When the final buzzer sounded in Madison, Wis., not only had the Spartans lost by double-digits, they were two games under .500 at 5-7 - a far cry from Elite aspirations.
The Spartans then reeled off 12 wins in 14 games, both losses being road games - an overtime defeat to Purdue and a loss to Illinois. But, even the positive (12 wins) couldn't overshadow the way the Spartans played in their losses.
Still, after the Illinois game on Feb. 10, MSU was riding a five-game winning streak with one conference game left, a home contest against Wisconsin. A victory and the Spartans would claim at least a share of the Big Ten Championship, their fifth in seven years. A loss, and they'd need some help.
The MSU offense fluttered down the stretch, and a pair of missed free throws with under 10 seconds to play meant overtime, a five-minute period where the Spartans were outplayed to the end. That, coupled with two Illinois wins, meant no Big Ten title for MSU.
But in a season of many second chances, and even thirds, the Spartans were relying on their motto.
"We were known as the team that bounced back, bounced back, bounced back all year," Izzo said.
Bouncing back was what MSU planned to do at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. After a first-round victory against Northwestern, another heated contest against Wisconsin, a team the Spartans hadn't defeated since 2001, awaited.
MSU played near-flawless basketball, committing a season-low five turnovers while playing hard-nosed, in-your-face defense for the entire evening. It was all for not, however, when Big Ten Player of the Year Devin Harris carried the Badgers on his shoulders to victory down the stretch.
"That's a situation we found ourselves in more times than not," junior guard Chris Hill said. "Coach (Izzo) has been asking for leadership all year from the juniors, and it falls on our shoulders."
For the Spartans, it was a second strike on their list of preseason goals, which included a Big Ten Championship, a Big Ten Tournament title and a Final Four.
As unbelievable as it might have sounded, the Spartans still were determined to not strike out. A Final Four wasn't just a dream, it was a destination they were determined to get to.
Getting a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament was all the Spartans needed; They were one of 65 teams with a shot at the title. First stop: Seattle against 10th-seeded Nevada.
The Wolf Pack, a team with a nice résumé out of the Western Athletic Conference, was a good team, but nothing more than what the Spartans had faced all season. Duke and Kentucky both received No. 1 seeds, Kansas was a No. 4 seed, Syracuse and Illinois were No. 5 seeds, and Wisconsin was a No. 6.
But in the spotlight of the nation, MSU, again, failed in another quest. The Spartans led by 16 points in the first half and by seven with seven minutes to go.
MSU wouldn't score for more than seven minutes, which proved to be plenty of time for Nevada to turn a seven-point MSU lead into a seven-point MSU deficit. The Spartans, like they had done all season, couldn't win a big game.
"There were a lot of games that we lost in the last two minutes," sophomore guard Maurice Ager said. "That happened to us all year. This hurts because it ends our season."
As he stood outside the Spartans' locker room after the defeat, Izzo's face and eyes had a crimson tone. He still was in disbelief how the season of hope turned hopeless.
"In life, you kind of get what you deserve," Izzo said. I'm going to find some people that want to knock some people around. I'm done playing this soft kind of ball. Finesse doesn't work in anything if you're trying to be the best.
"I'll respect the effort we had, but it's not good enough. I don't like the fact that all year, we didn't have the grit to get it done."
Izzo said his time in the offseason will be spent looking for the type of players that not only have the talent to be victors, but also have the will to do whatever it takes to come out on top.
He added the team in East Lansing now still is a good team, but he'll find the missing pieces and make the necessary changes to put the Spartans back on the NCAA National Championship map. That, however, might be the only way the crimson veins in his eyes and the stressful sweat from his brow disappear.
"To compete at a level, we have to compete at Michigan State now, it takes an incredible, incredible amount of toughness and we're still searching," Izzo said.
"I think they gave it their all, but not nearly what it takes to win a championship. Guess I'm going to have to stop using that word."
