Michigan State basketball: 2018 NCAA Tournament will define season

Although this is the winningest Michigan State basketball regular season team in school history, the NCAA Tournament will define the Spartans.

Despite winning the Big Ten title with the winningest regular season in Spartan history, some minimize the team’s accomplishments because of its strength of schedule.

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Television viewers of a Michigan State game can count on commentators criticizing how Miles Bridges has played throughout the season, juxtaposed by the fact that media voted him first-team in the conference his team won.

Because of its talent level and the disregard toward its achievements, Michigan State’s season will be defined by its NCAA Tournament performance.

With a decent run, the team will have no losses to an opponent outside the top 20, while the projected No. 1 seeds will all have home losses to unranked teams. But special seasons are remembered by wins, not losses. With a Final Four run, the strength-of-schedule narrative will be long gone, surpassed by fond memories of tournament wins.

Along with earning the praise of being an elite point guard, Cassius Winston has become known as the team’s clutch playmaker in close games. A deep tournament run would require comebacks and close wins, allowing Winston the chance to prove his reputation as a go-to star in crunch time.

After shooting 30 percent from three the first half of the season, Matt McQuaid caught fire to push his 3-point percentage past 40. His vital shots made the difference in a few wins, including against Purdue. If the Spartans win it all, be sure they will count on McQuaid to make crucial shots which could define his college career.

Is Tom Izzo burying the ultra-proficient Nick Ward on the bench with a plan to unleash him in the NCAA Tournament? Perhaps. If Ward stays on the court, he can come out of the shadows to dominate opponents in the paint and bully his way to the Final Four.

If a team needed him to, Bridges could take most of the shots and average 25 points. But as he made clear when announcing his return, he’s playing for team honors not individual ones. And on this year’s team stacked with talent, he’s become a leader while averaged 17 points and seven boards to go along with three assists. Leading the team to a national championship would squash all talk about him underachieving in East Lansing and put him alongside college basketball greats.

After saying “it looked like men against boys” after last year’s tournament loss to Kansas, Izzo vowed that his boys would become men and that there would be paybacks.

The Spartans have had an incredible year, but their potential requires them to do more. The team will be remembered most for its NCAA Tournament performance.

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And in a year in which the team has faced an onslaught against its coaches, players, and even family members, winning a national championship would be even more special.