Maurice Ager is 14th on MSU's all-time scoring list. He's been to an Elite Eight. He's been to a Final Four. He's averaging more points a game this season than any Spartan in the last decade.

He's also never won a Big Ten championship. He's never made it to the finals of the Big Ten Tournament. He's had his moments this season but has also disappeared at times when his team needed him most.

So as Ager gets ready to play his final game at Breslin Center tomorrow against Illinois, there are some out there that still consider the senior guard's career a disappointment.

And you know what? He knew what he was signing up for when he came to MSU.

"Expectations always are high — that's why when you lose a few games. It's always a bigger deal," Ager said. "That's what we built here. That's how it is. And that's one thing I liked about this place — you're held accountable for everything you do, no matter what it is."

Head coach Tom Izzo should know that. He's the end-all when it comes to holding people accountable. But even he says he can't consider Ager and fellow senior Paul Davis' tenure anything but a success.

"They are going to not have won a championship, and that'll be a knock," Izzo said. "But they've knocked on the door more than a few times. They played the greatest schedule I think any players in a four-year career could play. They've been to some incredible places. They have memories to last a lifetime, and they've given a lot of memories."

The only things Izzo says he regrets are the injuries that plagued Ager earlier in his career, including a stress fracture in his right foot that sidelined him for several weeks early in his freshman year.

"Has there been some disappointments? Sure," Izzo said. "Mo getting hurt his first two years a lot was a disappointment because I think it slowed his progress."

Injury free the last two seasons, Ager has finally developed into the star Izzo and his staff envisioned when they recruited him out of Detroit Crockett.

After averaging almost 25 points a game as a high school senior, Ager was pegged by many as strictly a scorer, one who Izzo often says "never met a shot he didn't like."

That reputation grew his first two years at MSU, as he took 375 shots while only handing out 37 assists.

But when last year's seniors handed over the reins, Ager put a renewed focus on diversifying his game.

Now, he's averaging career highs in rebounds and steals. And although he's still leading the team in scoring at 19.2 a game, he's become the complete player that assistant coach Mark Montgomery said the staff saw all along.

"Outside people look and they probably see the points," Montgomery said. "But his decision making is getting better. He reads pick-and-rolls better. He's understanding how teams are trying to defend him better. His rebounding has gotten better. He gets to the rim. It's just understanding of the game in general, whereas when he came here as a freshman, he was probably trying to drive in and dunk everything."

Ager, who likely will be a first-round pick in this year's NBA draft, has seen the growth in himself, too. But it hasn't all come on the court.

"I really can't see myself where I'm at now, four years ago," Ager said. "I feel like I've become a man. I think I'm just ready for anything that life has to hand to me when it's all over."