Final Four!!!! YES!!!

LooseGoose wrote:
Spartan Basketball ‏@MSU_Basketball

The crowd continues to fill Breslin Center awaiting the team to arrive. There is still time to get here!

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn saw his future teammates on TV, crying, and he sent them a text message: "Next year those are gonna be tears of joy."

It was March 30, 2014, and Nairn was still in high school, watching the aftermath of Michigan State's Elite Eight loss to Connecticut – a No. 7 seed coming back to stun No. 4 seed MSU, 60-54 in New York. There were declarations of a return trip in the locker room then, mostly ignored, and when MSU players broke all their offseason huddles with "1, 2, 3, Indy!" they earned raised eyebrows.

"Even us coaches thought they were a little bit crazy," MSU associate head coach Dwayne Stephens said.

Michigan State is going to its seventh Final Four under head coach Tom Izzo.

That’s pretty incredible, considering the Spartans were on the outside of the NCAA tournament looking in just seven weeks ago.

Seven Final Fours under one coach, and in just 18 seasons, is pretty incredible, too. In fact, there are a lot of incredible statistics surrounding Izzo and his MSU program.

Celebrate the Spartans’ seventh Final Four under Izzo with these incredible stats:

More Final Fours (7) than first-weekend exits in the NCAA tournament (5) under Izzo
Izzo owns a 21-4 record in second games of an NCAA tournament weekend
During Izzo’s 18-season NCAA tournament streak, MSU averages 2.56 tournament wins per year. That means that a Sweet 16 appearance is statistically a down season for the Spartans.
Izzo has seven Final Fours since the Spartans’ current NCAA tournament streak started in 1998. The Big Ten (not including MSU) has eight Final Four appearances in that same time span.
Izzo-coached teams now have a 13-9 record as the lower-seeded team in the NCAA tournament, the best mark in tourney history.
Izzo’s seven Final Fours is one shy of the eight total in the illustrious history of the Indiana Hoosers, which dates back to 1901.
Michigan State has made it to at least he Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament nine times during the Spartans’ 18-season tourney streak, meaning MSU is playing for a trip to the Final Four every other year.

BONUS STAT

Izzo now has more Final Fours than the programs of Michigan and Notre Dame combined (6 in a combined 226 seasons)

LooseGoose wrote:
Ralph LaurenLIP ‏@Tony_Lippett14

“@thesnews_sports: Mark Dantonio and Tom Izzo ”BEST COACH DUO

LooseGoose wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:

LooseGoose wrote:

Kramerica wrote:so much win in this thread....thanks goose for sharing pictures of the rally. Just awesome. A great day to be a Spartan.

LooseGoose wrote:

Rocinante wrote:No that's not him.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

Rocinante wrote:No that's not him.

okay.. makes sense. I always thought he was really old..

LooseGoose wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:
okay.. makes sense. I always thought he was really old..

Yeah think Merlin Olsen.   Well, except I'm not dead - yet.

LooseGoose wrote:Izzo's pregame speech "2 Hours" - after listening to it I had to go run into a wall.

http://network.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/heres_tom_izzo_2_hours_speech_he_gave_before_michigan_states_elite_eight_win/18543485