You also probably don’t remember, or have never even heard, that Ospreys head coach Matthew Driscoll essentially predicted the future of MSU’s season.

In the middle of his eccentric press conference filled with MSU compliments and witty one-liners, the whimsical head coach laid out just how important junior forward Branden Dawson is to the Spartans.

“Dawson, to me, is (MSU’s) guy, almost to the point where you might not be able to lose him,” Driscoll said. “He gives you that one person that can put it on the floor and go get rebounds, guard multiple positions all the time — bigger, stronger, doesn’t matter what he’s doing.”

That was more than two months ago, and here we are looking at a Spartan team that has gone 4-5 in its last nine games. It’s no coincidence Dawson has missed those nine games, because Driscoll was right — Dawson is the player MSU couldn’t afford to lose.

Right now, I would consider voting Dawson as the team MVP, because he is showing how crucial he is when on the bench. And make no mistake about it, Dawson’s presence on defense could have helped MSU make the “L” column a little emptier.

When MSU played Michigan at home a month ago, in Dawson’s first game out because of a broken hand, three Wolverines scored 17 or more points.

At Wisconsin, Badger forwards Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky both scored in double figures in a two-point victory over MSU. Even bench player Nigel Hayes scored 14 points against an MSU post presence that was depleted with foul trouble.

Nebraska forward Walter Pitchford went off for a surprising 18 points in a nine-point win over the Spartans.

Sunday at U-M, Nik Stauskas went off for 21 second-half points, many of them scored against Keith Appling — a guard six inches shorter than Stauskus.

Those are four conference losses without Dawson, and I’m willing to bet a meal at Crunchy’s his presence would have changed at least two of those games.

Instead of only having two or three Big Ten losses, MSU has four. That means it will need to win its final three games and have U-M slip at least once to have MSU split the Big Ten title with its rival they lost to twice.

Could you think of an emptier way to win a championship?

But there is good news, Spartan fans. Dawson is slated to come back Saturday against Illinois, and his defensive dominance will be back in action.

Unfortunately, the return is coming four conference losses too late.

Matt Sheehan is a State News basketball reporter. Reach him at msheehan@statenews.com.