TULSA, Okla. – Twenty-four hours earlier, Michigan State was a much different team.
The Spartans were going through their final on-court preparations and still in the process of fine-tuning their strategy for Miami, their first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament.
Although MSU had traveled the world to play 33 games, plus two exhibitions, endured dozens of practice sessions and been reconfigured countless times by Coach Tom Izzo and his staff, it was still an unknown entity.
How the Spartans, with four freshmen poised to make their national tourney debuts, would perform was anybody’s guess – and not a very educated one at that.