There are plenty of reasons why MSU making its 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament this season is significant.
It keeps MSU among the national powerhouses — only Arizona (23), Kansas (18), Kentucky (16) and Duke (12) have longer current streaks.
"I'd say that I can accept that we've got a pretty good program that's lasted the test of time," head coach Tom Izzo said Sunday after the Selection Show.
It was a tie to the past for current players, who talked about the streak at length before the season and felt a sense of obligation to keep it alive.
"It just meant a lot to this program, to former players," sophomore guard Travis Walton said.
Sophomore forward Marquise Gray added: "I'm just glad that we're not going to be the team to break it."
But perhaps the greatest significance of this bid is that it was earned in a down year in which few expected MSU to have much postseason life beyond the NIT. A tournament bid isn't really that hard to obtain with the kind of talent the Spartans have had in previous years. But with arguably the thinnest roster in Izzo's tenure, this team still managed to go 22-11 and extend its season. That — more than the streak itself — is the mark of an elite program.
"I can honestly say now," Izzo said, "I don't think in my deepest darkest times alone, I would have predicted this team would win 22 games with the schedule they played."
And he told them that. Faced with their coach's brutal honesty, the players embraced a defense-heavy system that played to their strengths, then reaped the benefits as they outplayed all expectations.
"I was honest with them when the year started that if we don't do this, this and this, we have no chance to get in the tournament," Izzo said. "And when those things start happening, then there gets to be that trust level that, let's face it, the great teams have had."
As success mounted, that fairy tale tournament bid started to look more like a reality, as MSU was 13-2 entering conference play.
Even with injuries and a tough conference schedule, the Spartans didn't fold. A win against then-No. 1 Wisconsin last month all but completed the journey from afterthought to overachiever. If ever just getting in the tournament was as much a statement as winning a game there, this might have been it.
"They answered the bell a lot of different ways through a lot of different adversity, and you do have to be extra proud of what they've accomplished," Izzo said. "I really am. I really, really am."
Next season, with the entire roster returning and three blue-chip recruits coming in, nobody will be patting the Spartans on the back if they extend their streak to 11.
But No. 10 will only grow more impressive with time.
"This spring and summer," Izzo said, "I think I'm going to look back and say, 'wow.'"
