“That's what your goal is. I know we've seen it before. To me we've demonstrated the ability to do it. There's no question about it,” MSU coach Suzy Merchant said. “We've just got to kind of continue to move forward, get a little bit of a rest here, give our kids a chance to kind of mentally get rested, physically get rested and then just go back to work next week and start preparing for what may come and continue to keep making sure we're in shape, we take care of our injuries.”

The Spartans finished the 2018-19 season with a 20-11 record. With some notable resume wins, the Spartans are hoping for an NCAA tournament bid.

“It’s March. Anything can happen,” senior center Jenna Allen said. “We’re just going to play and whatever happens, happens.”

MSU’s resume includes an impressive 88-82 win over No. 3 Oregon on Dec. 9, an 84-70 victory over the 2019 Big Ten Tournament Champion Iowa on Dec. 30, a Jan. 17, 77-60 victory over No. 9 Maryland (2019 outright Big Ten Champions) and a season sweep of Michigan, a 77-73 victory on Jan. 27 and a 74-64 win on Feb. 24.

Merchant’s 12-year tenure at Michigan State has resulted in ten 20+ win seasons and eight NCAA tournament bids.  

Last year, the Spartans made it to the WNIT and fell 85-83 to South Dakota in the third round of the tournament. Guard Shay Colley earned a career-high 31 points against the Coyotes while guard Taryn McCutcheon had 16 points.

“Our mindset right now is… to get to the NCAA tournament and win that. I feel like if you don’t have that mindset then you shouldn’t be here," Allen said after defeating Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament.