“I think we’re still confident, it just makes you mad to see the way it turned out, especially for guys that do this everyday and make free throws everyday and make shots everyday,” Forbes said of the free throw debacle that unraveled on Saturday. “We’re not happy at all but we’re still confident. We know what what we can do.”

There isn’t too much about MSU’s recent performances that suggest that the confidence has translated to the court. Unfortunately for the Spartans, the game is played out of body.

The mark of a truly confident team would be executing in crunch time, something MSU simply hasn’t done. With a chance to defeat U-M in regulation just a few games ago, senior guard Travis Trice launched a three from the right wing - no good.

Hoping to tie Saturday’s game against Illinois at 57 with two seconds left, Trice once again pulled up from the right wing, only this time his three was tipped and came up short.

In two very important moments of the game, MSU settled. A confident team wouldn’t settle in those situations.

If you weren’t aware, MSU has made 17 straight NCAA tournaments. As bracketology predictions have been released, the Spartans have hovered around the 8-11 seed line, and with every loss, the streak is in greater danger of ending.

“We figured that (we’re) Michigan State and that we’re gonna pull it through,” Valentine said. “I don’t know, I guess we gotta talk about it a little more and make it more important now.”

That quote suggests overconfidence, and once again, a disconnect between what fans and spectators are seeing on the court. How often have you watched the Spartans thinking ‘they’ve got this and they know it?'

They don’t have the look in their eyes, they don’t have the killer instinct. Early leads have vaporized in minutes, and close games have turned into mad scrambles at the end.

Izzo, on the other hand, thinks that his players are losing confidence, but that’s been a result of seeing so many missed shots, both at the line and from three point range.

“I would say that when you struggle, if you’re a shooter and you struggle, you lose confidence, which kind of permeates throughout all parts of your game,” Izzo said.

Izzo attacked the issue of free throw shooting in his Monday press conference. He wasted no time in getting to the subject and he noted that failing to confront it will lead to nothing.

“You better address the problem and deal with the fact that it is a problem,” Izzo said.

Izzo isn’t hiding from anything. If the Spartans want to right the ship, the players need to take the same approach. What they are saying doesn’t match what they’ve shown in games. Perhaps they need to take a better look in the mirror because fans and spectators have been seeing completely different images.