Michigan State basketball’s experience, cunning places glory within reach

Michigan State basketball’s experience and resiliency has the program within striking distance of its third national championship.

Michigan State trailed 66-63 with less than a minute and a half to go in the game.

Cassius Winston dribbled at the top of the key, eyes up and alert, yet so, so calm. His hand was up; a preparatory gesture for a cut that Tre Jones had to expect.

Kenny Goins sprinted up to the corner and sidestepped past Jones, and that was when Winston made his move. He jolted to the right and started toward the top of the arc. He got past the line, but Jones matched him step for step. Back to the left. Winston hit Jones with a spin and found leverage, using the newfound crease to slip past Jones’ right shoulder, straight toward the hoop.

The Blue Devils had seen this on tape: the slightly un-athletic, yet crafty point guard somehow, someway finding ways to create his own shots. And so Zion Williamson and Javin DeLaurier stepped up, erecting a mammoth wall for the Big Ten Player of the Year. All eyes on him.

But the ball wasn’t.

The ball was in the open air, gone from Winston’s hands. It reached a now-open Xavier Tillman, who, in one swift motion, plucked the ball out of the air and sent it through the net, unopposed.

Misdirection. Experience. Cunning. It’s how the Spartans won the un-winnable game.

In beating the Duke Blue Devils, the Spartans reminded the nation that talent isn’t everything in modern basketball. Goins’ iconic three-pointer to gain a 68-66 lead, made possible by a Winston cut and a failed Duke switch, was a reminder. Tillman’s glance before the final inbounds pass, so subtle, yet so effective, was a reminder.

Basketball is a game of depth. A game of details. And while the Michigan State Spartans may not be the most talented team or the most explosive, they’ve placed an emphasis on the mastery of the depth of the game. And it’s paying off.

Tom Izzo himself almost couldn’t believe it. As Tillman faked a toss to the right, then led Winston like a quarterback throwing his receiver open. As Winston broke away, an empty plot of hardwood ahead of him, his free arm flailing with uncontrollable excitement as he turned the corner to let the clock run down, around the outstretched, futile reach of Zion Williamson.

As the clock hit zero, and as Winston tossed the ball to the stratosphere, and as his teammates leapt onto the court in droves around him, Izzo still couldn’t believe it. Always one with words, always one with something to say, for once, Izzo was silent. His mouth hanging open in awe.

Maybe after almost two decades of searching, after five Final Fours and no championships, Izzo had started to doubt his methods. Not outwardly. Not vocally. He couldn’t do that to his players. But an unconscious doubt. The worst kind of doubt, ingrained into the mind. That if he couldn’t win with two McDonalds All-Americans, he couldn’t win at all.

Izzo’s win over Duke proved otherwise. To the nation. And to himself. The old way still worked.

While the doubting is done, however, the journey is not. The Spartans face the upstart Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday, and if they win that game, they face the winner of the matchup between the red-hot Auburn Tigers and the steady-handed Virginia Cavaliers. The team’s win against Duke had an air of finality to it. Perhaps it should’ve been a Final Four matchup, against two one-seeds.

But the Spartans have no bones to pick. Not anymore. They’ve proved their mettle, with experience, cunning, and attention to detail. The mastery of depth. Now, they look to the Red Raiders. Glory within their reach.