The 2014-2015 men’s basketball team is in a transition year. However, despite being unranked, the team is poised to make yet another NCAA tournament.
After a year in which the Spartans were looked at as a national championship favorite, and even the president picked MSU to win, fans have to taper their expectations for the team.
MSU lost three major contributors to last year’s team, including the No. 15 overall pick in the NBA draft Adreian Payne, the No. 19 overall pick Gary Harris and Keith Appling. Despite losing three key starters, the Spartans are going back to the NCAA tournament for the 18th year in a row.
The team definitely had some questionable losses for the usual Spartan basketball team, as evident in these final scores: 71-64 on Dec. 20 to Texas Southern, 79-77 on Jan. 24 to Nebraska, 59-54 at home on Feb. 7 to Illinois and 96-90 at home on Feb. 26 to Minnesota.
After three of those four losses the team responded with a win. There is a resiliency to this year’s MSU squad that has pushed the team through some rough stretches in the season.
The Spartans’ 18th straight tournament appearance moves MSU into a tie for the fourth longest consecutive NCAA tournament appearance streak.
What teams are ahead of MSU? MSU has now tied Indiana, a team that went to 18 straight from 1986 to 2003. In 15 of those tournaments legendary Bob Knight coached the team.
Next up is Duke at No. 3, as they now have 20. The Blue Devils’ streak began in 1996 and all of these appearances have been under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
At No. 2 is Kansas, which has now made 26 straight appearances since 1990, with head coach Bill Self at the helm for 12 of those seasons.
The top spot goes to North Carolina with 27 straight appearances ranging from 1975 to 2001. The late Dean Smith is responsible for 23 of the 27.
This is the negative opinions about this MSU team bother me. Most teams will never experience consistency like the Spartans have under Izzo.
Are the Spartans going to win a national championship this year? More than likely, no. But that doesn’t mean MSU fans shouldn’t appreciate how special this streak is. Regular national championship expectations have spoiled the fan base.
Next time you are prepared to say this team isn’t any good, think about all of the graduating classes that have never seen the Spartans miss the tournament. Think about the fact that fellow Big Ten opponent Northwestern has never been to an NCAA tournament. This kind of success is hard to come by, and shouldn’t be taken for granted.
