Spartans Strive For Elite Status
3/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 29, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan State wants to be considered an elite program like the last two teams it beat, Duke and Kentucky, and the one, North Carolina, it will face in the Final Four.
"I'm really excited about the opportunity to play the third giant," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Tuesday.
The Spartans would have to sustain excellence for decades to approach the status of the Tar Heels, Blue Devils, Wildcats and perhaps a few others.
But Michigan State can stack up its accomplishments in recent years with any program in college basketball.
The Spartans are headed to their fourth Final Four in seven years, more than any other team, ahead of the three trips Duke and Connecticut each have made since 1999. Michigan State won its second national championship in 2000.
North Carolina was the last team to make such frequent trips to the NCAA tournament semifinals, making it there four times from 1995-2000.
When Michigan State (26-6) tips off late Saturday night against the Tar Heels (31-4), Izzo will join former Ohio State coach Fred Taylor as the only coaches in NCAA history to advance to four Final Fours in their first 10 seasons.
After being the first team to beat Duke and Kentucky in one NCAA tournament, the Spartans could make the feat even tougher to match if they upset North Carolina.
Michigan State is in the NCAA tournament for an eighth straight year, behind the streaks of six schools, and it has at least made it to the round of 16 six times during the stretch, trailing only Duke's ability to survive the first weekend since 1998.
"I look at (the accomplishments) and say, `Wow,'" Izzo said. "But they're never as impressive when they're about your own program as they would be if they showed those same stats about somebody else.
"All of those things are just stats, but they do help you get the goal I want to achieve and that's to put this program on a level that people won't say we're impostors if we have one down season."
Gus Ganakas, Michigan State's head coach from 1969-76, said the Spartans have already reached elite status.
"With this group going to the Final Four, every player that has come to play for Tom and stayed four years will be able to say he went to a Final Four. That's impressive," said Ganakas, an analyst on Michigan State's radio broadcasts. "Tom is way too humble to admit it, but he's reached the goal for this program that he's always talked about striving for."
As Ganakas predicted, Izzo insisted Michigan State has not yet reached the lofty status enjoyed by an undefined handful of schools. But Izzo acknowledged an unexpected spot in the Final Four brings him closer to his goal.
"This is definitely another giant step in the right direction," he said. "Now, if we win another national championship, that's another step in the right direction."
If the Spartans become the first fifth-seeded team to win a title, they would join UCLA (11), Kentucky (7), Indiana (5), North Carolina (3) and Duke (3) as the only schools with three or more national championships.
By LARRY LAGE, The Associated Press
