Draymond Green took three dribbles to his left and with a power move in the lane, picked up steam and left his feet for the short jumper.
Green’s shot over Gordon Hayward drew contact but there was no whistle from the referees and the ball fell short of the rim. Time ran out on the Spartans’ tournament charge.
This was MSU’s last Final Four appearance in 2010, and in lieu of controversy, the Spartans bowed out to the tournament darling Butler Bulldogs. Five years later, MSU returns to the national semifinal stage in Indianapolis, this time with a chance to knock out No. 1 seed Duke.
One of head coach Tom Izzo’s most exciting tournament runs has been propelled by wins against Georgia, Virginia, Oklahoma and Louisville. Although it looked like a long shot this year, MSU is now just two wins away from its third national championship.
As the East Region’s No. 7 seed, the Spartans have been the lower-seeded team in three of their four NCAA Tournament games. Alongside three No. 1 seeds in Kentucky (38-0 overall), Wisconsin (35-3) and Duke (33-4), MSU (27-11) enters the weekend with more losses than the other schools combined.
Numbers might paint the Spartans as a clear underdog, and on the surface, Izzo understands that.
“There’s no question that Duke is a favored team,” Izzo said. “There’s no question that Kentucky is the favored team. If we played Wisconsin, they’d probably be the favored team. I guess if you look at it that way, we’re underdogged all weekend.”
Overcoming Duke’s dominance
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has dominated the series against Izzo, winning eight of nine meetings. Just this past November, Krzyzewski and his Blue Devils topped the Spartans in the Champions Classic, 81-71.
It was MSU’s second game of the year, but Duke’s offensive capabilities were on display as four players notched double-digit points, including freshman center Jahlil Okafor.
Okafor is a finalist for the 2015 Naismith Trophy and has been touted as one of the most offensively gifted post players to come through the college game.
“Jahlil is a dominating big who can score on the block,” Izzo said. “Even in the 20 years I’ve been here, post players in general, every five man wants to be a four man and shoot threes. Jahlil is who Jahlil is. He’s comfortable in his own skin. He wants to be on the block.”
Izzo said Okafor has “the whole package,” but there won’t be any magical defensive game plan to slow him down. MSU might bring double teams from time to time but because Duke has other perimeter threats like senior guard Quinn Cook, congesting the paint and leaving the three-point line open could be harmful.
Cook has averaged 15.5 points per game this year, but he’s the only senior on the team to play meaningful minutes. Much of the rest of the scoring has come from a pair of freshman — forward Justise Winslow and guard Tyus Jones.
Winslow has used the tournament as a coming out party and in his last two games against Utah and Gonzaga, he scored 21 and 16 points, respectively, to help his team to the Final Four. Izzo described him as “a pretty polished player.”
Duke averages 80 points per game, good for fourth in the nation. Scoring can come from anywhere and containing the explosive offense will be a challenge for MSU.
“They got enough weapons around them that I think we got to clamp down on five guys and then probably on Mike,” Izzo said. “We got to guard six guys in this tournament.”
A friendly environment
When the 68-team NCAA Tournament field is chopped down to just four teams, the stage is exponentially increased. The Final Four weekend ushers in media outlets and fans from across the country and for college kids, getting caught up in the moment can be an issue.
For the Spartans and Izzo especially, Indianapolis brings a certain level of comfort and cuts down on potential distractions. MSU and Duke met for the first time this year in Indianapolis, and throughout the years, handfuls of Big Ten tournaments have taken place there.
Junior forward said he and junior guard have plans to grab breakfast at Qdoba Mexican Grill, a tradition of theirs whenever they’re in the city. Preparing for the biggest weekend of the year all of a sudden gets a tad easier when it’s in a recognizable city.
“We’ve won championships there,” Valentine said. “It’s not in the same place but they have great history there and, you know, to be familiar with the city and the things around, it makes us more comfortable knowing that we can do it.”
As Valentine said, MSU has had plenty of success in Indianapolis. Players from this year’s team were a part of 2014’s Big Ten title at Bankers Life Fieldhouse just last year. On an even larger scale, Izzo won his only national championship in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis is about a four-hour drive from East Lansing. Plenty of fans traveled to Syracuse, New York, last weekend and with travel time nearly cut in half, from East Lansing there should be plenty of green and white in Indy.
“It’s great for the people in the Midwest, parents of our players,” Izzo said. “This has just worked out for us like nothing I’ve ever seen. I’m not a big believer in ‘Destiny gets it done.’ I think hard work gets it done. It sure is fun to be in the right place at the right time in the right tournament.”
Limiting distractions
As familiar as the city is, the Spartans will undoubtedly need to make some adjustments this weekend when preparing themselves. For starters, shooting the ball in an environment like Lucas Oil Stadium can be a challenge.
Recent memory brings up the 2011 title game, a contest in which Butler and UConn combined to make 31-of-119 field goal attempts, or about 25 percent.
Shooting in front of nearly 70,000 fans in the center of a new environment only adds to the factors working against players. For junior guard Bryn Forbes, it shouldn’t be a problem to adjust.
“I’m not too worried about it,” Forbes said. “Shooting the ball is shooting the ball, no matter where you’re at.”
Staying relaxed and loose might also be a challenge, as a circus unlike any other rolls into town. Fan events, alumni events, media events and open practices, each of which can draw thousands of people, can cause a player to feel a bit more tense.
MSU is approaching this weekend with the same confidence and composure they have all year long. Forbes said the guys are still hanging out at each other’s apartments, “just doing what we’ve always done.”
Freshman guard said that the leaders have done a fine job of keeping everyone locked in on this weekend’s goals.
“They’ve played in Elite Eights before,” Nairn said. “You saw how they led us out there. Those guys continue to keep the younger guys focused in and hungry because they know how big the moment is.”
