Maurice Ager stepped out on the court inside the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis exactly 10 years ago Thursday, sporting the Spartan name draped across his chest, anxiously awaiting the opening tip-off for MSU’s first Final Four since 2001.
As a junior and the team’s top scorer during the 2004-2005 campaign, Ager had a future in the NBA waiting for him following his career in East Lansing, but before he could focus on the draft he had something to prove on the biggest stage in college basketball.
Securing a Final Four bid after defeating Kentucky in double overtime in the Austin Regional final, the Spartans found themselves a date with eventual national champion North Carolina, as the lone No. 5 seed among the four qualifying programs.
Ager said that his performance increased his level of confidence for his senior year because he was competing against a plethora of NBA draft hopefuls.
“For me, it set the bar for how good I was at the time and the type of player I was,” Ager said. “To lead that game in scoring when there was potentially 11 pros on the floor, considering that had we had three or four ourselves and they had six or seven first round draft picks.
“So for me, it raised my confidence going into next year. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull out the victory, but all in all, it was a great experience.”
Garnering 26 wins, while losing seven, including two early back-to-back loses against Duke and George Washington, was enough for the Spartans to finish second in the Big Ten standings and rank No. 15 in the Associated Press poll.
Even with the abundance of talent on the roster (including Alan Anderson and Shannon Brown), a first-round loss in the conference tournament against Iowa locked in the Spartans as a No. 5 seed. With frustration over a handful of disappointing losses, it provided MSU extra motivation to come out strong on the national stage, knocking off both Duke and Kentucky in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, respectively.
The run came to a halt on the first night of the Final Four, but Ager said the experience gave him a sense of fulfillment, knowing that he worked so hard his entire life to play at that type of level.
“Other than the NBA, there’s nothing higher than the Final Four in my opinion,” Ager said. “It was just a wonderful experience, even from the practices to the actual game. Even from this day, I tell people that I averaged 25 points.”
Ager said that he feels good about this year’s team that’ll compete in the seventh Final Four since head coach Tom Izzo took over the position during the 1995-1996 season. He believes that the only similarity between the 2005 team and 2015 team are that both experienced regular-season struggles.
The 31-year-old also assessed that this season is a prime example how good of a coach Izzo is.
“I like how they were able to overcome the struggles during the regular season. Looking at their record now, it looks pretty good entering the Final Four,” Ager said. “I like their heart, their toughness, putting their trust in Izzo and trust the system and trust the team, takes a lot of toughness to do so and I commend them for that.”
When asked who he compares himself to from this year’s team, Ager wasted little time in answering with the East Regional Most Valuable Player.
“I think some of the heart that Travis Trice displays on the court kind of reminds me of myself,” Ager said.
