Spartans Enter 2015 NCAA Tournament With High Upside and Little Room for Error, but it Still is IZZOTIME.

Spartans Enter 2015 NCAA Tournament With High Upside and Little Room for Error, but it Still is IZZOTIME. Time Life Warner Arena Charlotte, NC This has not

Spartans Enter 2015 NCAA Tournament With High Upside and Little Room for Error, but it Still is IZZOTIME.

Time Life Warner Arena

Charlotte, NC

This has not been a normal year for Spartan basketball. Sure they are 23-11 (12-6 in the Big Ten) but to say this team had a learning curve would be an understatement. That said a Hall of Fame coach and one of the best group of young men that Izzo has had at MSU, made it this far.

Izzo couldn’t hide is excitement as he broke down the state of his Spartans. “We are heading into Atlanta different than any other years than probably the past 15 years, and that's to try to win the tournament, win the weekend. Game isn't like it used to be my first couple years here. We're going in about as good as we can go in. We've won eight out of 11 and we've won four out of five and all teamed we played are NCAA Tournament teams.”

But the usually glass half empty continued to talk about the positives. “We talk about what we didn't do this year, and yet we lost to three teams that aren't in the tournament. So I think we've been kind of consistently a little bit inconsistent but a little consistently pretty consistent when you think about what's gone on.”

When Izzo is talked about 100 years from now his prowess in the Big Dance will still be legend. He talked about what his team has to embrace to follow his past squads in March glory. “This is the time of year when everyone starts their own zero, I told my team. I don't know which way I want that to be because I still think there's been some good wins and some good play but there's been some discouragement, too. The free throw shooting woes are at least a little bit in the rear view mirror. We have done a better job recently.”

So what specifically is he looking for from his crew on Friday when they tip off here in Charlotte? “I think, you know, as I tell our guys, we've got to play better, harder and smarter, and we've been playing better. We've been playing harder, and once in awhile, we're not playing smarter, and that's kind of the next step that we have to take. We have to play a little smarter.”

He has reason to be excited though. Sure his team had their struggles, but last weekend in Chicago at the Big Ten Tournament they showed him something. A glimpse into what they can be. “We definitely played a level of basketball that when you get in that Big Ten Tournament, if there's one major plus, it's understanding what one and done is, and a mistake means you're out. I thought we Rose to the level about as good as any team I've had because we've had to play three very good teams last year, and we played Northwestern, and then it was Wisconsin and Michigan; this year, to play Ohio State, Maryland and Wisconsin, I think we had to prepare, and especially in that Saturday game, in a very, very short period of time. And to play 125 minutes in 44, 45 hours, I think gets you ready for NCAA play.”

Izzo has preached for years that winning in March is more mental that anything. Sure the most talented teams win, but the margin of talent disparity (Outside of teams not called Kentucky) is slim. Very slim. Izzo thinks for that reason the Spartan Nation has some good news. “We faced some adversity, we've shown to be resilient. We've had our backs against the wall when we were 13 or 14 and seven, I think we've shown that we can handle that. So this team has been through a lot. As I told you last week, one NBA guy said to me after that Indiana game: We have kind of covered all the things that can happen in a game in the last 15 seconds. Well, then you add this weekend's game, and we definitely have gone through all the situational stuff you could go through, only instead of thinking about them, we lived them live, and excelled in a few, failed in a few, hopefully learned from them all, and that's kind of what I'm looking to do.”

As previously mentioned this is Izzo 18th straight dance. Does it get old? Does the Spartan ICON expect them or look forward to them? Spartan Nation, you know that answer. “A month ago I was looking forward to getting in it. Now I'm looking forward to winning a couple games. That's the truth of it. I think I like that kind of pressure, that, you know, I think our program is at a the level where I think you do have to go down there and win two games, and you have to do it one at a time but we'll be preparing that way.”

So is he still as excited for number 18 as he was number one? “I'm excited because I think our team is playing some of the best basketball it's played. I still know our limitations, as I said we are not a vintage Michigan State team but it's been kind of exciting because being a little different, we can do it different ways. We can score points a little easier. We can shoot the three a little better.”

He finished by saying, “I'm looking forward to just continuing the process. You know, we were close. We were close the other day and doing what we want to do here and that's hang a banner. We got beat by Kansas to win a tournament in Orlando, a game that went right down to the wire and we got beat by Wisconsin to try to win a tournament, a championship in Chicago, and we get one more shot and see where that takes us.”

One thing is certain. Spartan Nation spends another March watching their team. It could end before dinner time on Friday or in Indianapolis in two weeks. That is why it’s called March Madness and the fact that MSU never enters the dance without a fighters chance of a Final Four is why we call it, “Izzo Time.”