Green Giants: The Inside Story of Michigan State's 2019 Big Ten Title and Final Four Run

Contents

Game On!

After all those difficult days, Spartan Nation celebrated another Big Ten title.

The Team!

Even when injuries struck — from Joshua Langford to Nick Ward to Cassius Winston — the Spartans stuck together.

Thrill-ogy!

Three wins in Chicago — including a third over the Wolverines — proved the Spartans were primed for a run in the NCAA tournament.

The Dance!

Tom Izzo and the Spartans were determined to reestablish March as MSU’s favorite month — and to conquer big, bad Coach K and Duke finally.

Green Days!

Winston & Co. were far from the first Spartans going through the Madness. They were inspired by the MSU squads that paved the way to hoops glory.

Game On

THEY STARTED IN THE SHADOWS, THEN SOLDIERED ON AS THE INJURIES MOUNTED. SUDDENLY, WITH TWO FANTASTIC FINISHES IN TWO WEEKS, THEY WERE CHAMPS AGAIN.

The Breslin Center doors opened at 11:30 p.m. for an impromptu rally after Michigan State upset Duke in the nation’s capital for a berth in the Final Four. By the time the team appeared around 1 a.m., more than 5,000 fans were in a frenzy. You are part of history, coach Tom Izzo told them. There has never been this kind of crowd here. I salute and thank every single one of you. I appreciate every single one of you. We love you. We’re going to work our ass off this week to bring you a championship. NICK KING

Tough enough?

BEFORE THEY COULD GET HOT, TOM IZZO AND THE SPARTANS WOULD BE TESTED BY A CHILLING YEAR

By Graham Couch

The tears that welled up in Tom Izzo’s eyes late in Michigan State’s Big Ten tournament victory against Michigan and then again two weeks later before MSU’s NCAA tournament triumph over Duke were tears of pride and, I think, joy. Neither had anything to do with winning — the games weren’t decided when his emotions took over. One of the games hadn’t even started.

Izzo was intensely proud of his players and their resolve. Proud of where and who they were. And, I think, grateful for the moment.

I’m not sure he thought he’d ever feel that again.

I never had seen Izzo as miserable as he was in the spring and summer of 2018. And I’ve seen him miserable plenty. Izzo does misery well.

This was deeper than his usual cantankerous behavior. He was angry, confused and saddened by a winter that had gone awry, by a reputation he saw as ruined. The school’s Larry Nassar scandal had somehow spilled over into him, largely due to an ESPN report in January 2018 that weaved the MSU sports medicine doctor’s heinous crimes with accusations that Izzo had ignored incidents of sexual assault and violence within his basketball program.

MSU’s athletic director, Mark Hollis, retired ahead of the firestorm and its president, Lou Anna K. Simon, resigned in disgrace. That left Izzo, as the de facto voice of the university, a high-profile coach in season, answering on a subject that wasn’t his strength.

Worse, in late February, the family of sophomore star Miles Bridges was linked to a federal probe into college basketball corruption. An internal investigation uncovered only a $40 family dinner with an agent, unbeknownst to Bridges. But the episode was another dent in Izzo’s reputation.

Opposing fans he once playfully tussled with during Big Ten road games now were taking serious shots at his character. Once revered publicly, he was being portrayed and seen in a different light.

It’ll never be the same, he said later in the summer.

It didn’t help that Mr. March couldn’t get it done in his own month anymore on the court, it seemed. What was supposed to be a magical season — the second season of Bridges — had ended with an ugly thud, a second-round NCAA tournament exit to Syracuse at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, a third-straight early postseason exit.

No one within the program or rooting for it left that 30-victory, Big Ten championship season feeling good. Fans questioned his coaching tactics and whether, in his early 60s, he had lost his touch. It didn’t help that archrival Michigan had beaten MSU twice and reached the national championship game.

Izzo was exhausted and distracted. He admittedly didn’t have the zest he usually had in preparing his team for that Syracuse matchup on a quick turnaround. The season had worn on his team, too.

Against the 11th-seeded Orange, MSU held a 51-30 edge on the boards. Yet, the Spartans couldn’t put the ball in the basket, from anywhere on the court. They shot 25.8 percent from the field (17-for-66) and 21.6 percent from beyond the arc (8-for-37). MSU tumbled by two, 55-53.

We all struggled, Izzo said months later. The coach did a bad job against Syracuse.

Bridges and freshman Jaren Jackson Jr. were leaving for the NBA draft, where they would become lottery picks. MSU’s incoming class was far less heralded than the players it was replacing.

No one could have predicted the Spartans would come back a stronger, mentally tougher and more connected team the next season.

The tide began to turn at the end of August, when MSU received a letter from the NCAA that cleared it of any potential violations in the wake of Nassar’s abuse of female athletes and allegations of sexual assaults against the basketball and football programs.

Tom Izzo delivered the quote of the day during MSU’s media day in late October. When a reporter’s phone rang during the coach’s news conference, Izzo quipped: Love it. That should be a fine. I hear those are very commonplace these days. That would be a good place to start. I’ll call (Big Ten commish Jim) Delany on that and see if we can get that straightened out. KIRTHMON F. DOZIER

On the first day of practice in September, Izzo said: I always believed I followed every procedure and policy to the nth degree.

Izzo did two smart things in the offseason:

First, he and his staff reshaped the team’s offense — creating more space, making it more free-flowing, with fewer sets, more to Cassius Winston’s strengths with ball screens and improvisation. If Izzo had one sure-fire dynamic piece coming back, it was Winston. They were giving him the keys in ways they probably should have a year earlier.

Second, at the Big Ten media day in October, Izzo dove into his feelings since the previous January, including the ESPN Outside The Lines photo illustration that paired him and football coach Mark Dantonio with Nassar. And while he continued to conflate the Nassar story with ESPN’s questions about his behavior, he had at least had an open and public talk about all of it, with an ESPN reporter present. He should have done it months earlier. But he had freed his team to begin without more questions.

By Thanksgiving, in Las Vegas, it became clear this team was somehow better minus its two NBA lottery picks and three-year captain Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn. On offense, at least.

The ball’s moving and we’ve got a lot of guys who can make plays, Winston said the day after Thanksgiving, after a come-from-behind victory over Texas. We feed off each other so well.

It was different than before. Winston tried hard not to use the word better, but he was dancing around it.

That night was the sign of what we would see from MSU later — especially against Michigan three times and Duke in the Elite Eight: Connectedness, sweat equity and mental toughness that would define the season.

Izzo described this year’s team as the most mentally tough group of his 24-year career. And he said the seed for that was planted by enduring the sagas and final damning defeats of the previous season.

Perhaps that’s part of it. The players said that’s overstated. But maybe that’s helped them shake off and thrive through significant injuries. And maybe that contributed to the resolve and delight that brought Izzo to tears twice in March.

I was just so proud of them, Izzo explained. When people respond, and I’ve had this team respond time after time after time.

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IZZO’S TWO CENTS

At the Big Ten media day Oct. 11, 2018, in Rosemont, Ill., nine months’ worth of grievances and emotions emphatically poured out of Tom Izzo during a nearly hour-long roundtable with reporters. Among his comments:

On the ESPN Outside the Lines photo illustration of Izzo, football coach Mark Dantonio and disgraced sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar: It was about ‘Izzo and Dantonio hid.’ It wasn’t about what happened. It was about a picture that will go down for the rest of my life as the lowest part of my life, being on there with a pedophile.

On allegations of mishandling accusations of sexual assault in the basketball program: I did exactly what the procedures and the policies said. Now, could I go beyond those things? That’s up for everybody’s debate. But the time and place that everything happened, it was handled in the best way it could be handled. And so I regret that it happened.

On dealing with allegations of misconduct: I’m still American enough to hope there is a due process. … As far as accusations of what players did or not, if there would have been a time where a player was found guilty of something, I promise you he will not be on this team. He will not be on this team. But if you want me to be, what is the word, a vigilante, to go out and do justice, I can’t do that. I got a lot of kids. I can’t do that.

On the Nassar scandal: I’m not proud of anything that happened at our place as far as that situation went.

On the months since last season: I mean the offseason, if I used the word ‘good,’ you know, I’m not going to use the word ‘move on.’ I’m going to use the words that ‘I learned a lot.’ I had a great appreciation for what all kinds of different people went through. … So I have a few new missions in life. Win another championship is one of them. Used to be for a while that was the only one. So I’ve grown up as a coach, too, a little bit.

On the future: It’s been a tough eight, nine months for many, many, many people. Time doesn’t heal; time helps heal. And learning helps heal. So I’m gonna use those two things — time and what I’ve learned — to try and help heal.

— Chris Solari

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Rock shock

AN EARLY MEETING WITH THE NATION’S TOP TEAM TAUGHT THE SPARTANS WHAT THEY NEEDED TO LEARN

NOV. 6, 2018: NO. 1 KANSAS 92, NO. 10 MSU 87

By Chris Solari

For 30 minutes, Michigan State teetered on the verge of being blown out by top-ranked Kansas in the season opener.

But a curious thing about these Spartans emerged: They wouldn’t go away. Not when Kansas built a 17-point lead in the first half. Not when the Jayhawks continued fending off all of their advances in the middle of the Champions Classic in Indianapolis on Nov. 6. And not when they were down 12 points with a little less than four minutes to play.

I think we just found our zone and locked in as a team, MSU junior point guard Cassius Winston said. We got a lot of guys with a lot of pride and a lot of guys with a lot of talent and just fought our way back.

The Spartans couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to the Jayhawks, 92-87. Yet coach Tom Izzo discovered plenty about his 10th-ranked team. MSU pulled within three points on a Kyle Ahrens three-pointer with 34.6 seconds to play. The Jayhawks held on by making two free throws in the final 15 seconds after Winston missed two shots in the lane.

What I learned about my team is, in the second half, they just kept grinding, Izzo said. They kept grinding and played a lot harder. … It’s amazing what energy and a little toughness does for you.

More than 500 pounds of basketball beef battled for the ball in the season opener: Kansas listed Udoka Azubuike at 7-feet, 270 while MSU listed Nick Ward at 6-9, 245. BRIAN SPURLOCK

MSU also showed there was plenty to work on in the coming weeks and months. The Spartans could not find consistent scoring, got beaten to loose balls, committed casual turnovers and missed free throws. MSU turned it over 18 times, failed on 12 of its 35 free throws and was beaten by two on the boards.

Winston had five turnovers, although none over the final 13-plus minutes. He finished with 13 points and 11 assists but made just three of 10