EAST LANSING -- At last, Michigan State is truly playing for a championship again.
The Spartans open Big Ten tournament play on Friday with a quarterfinal game against Ohio State (6:30 p.m., BTN).
It will mark the most meaningful game for the Spartans since mid-January, when their Big Ten season went awry amid a 3-4 start.
That stretch cost the Spartans a shot at a Big Ten regular season title. The fact that they finished on a 10-1 tear and with the No. 2 ranking in the Associated Press poll was moot.
Call this weekend then a second chance at a Big Ten title.