It was a scene unlike most losing locker rooms.
Of course, Michigan State’s players were dejected. Kansas had ended their season minutes earlier in the second round of the NCAA tournament. A multimillion dollar question surrounded Miles Bridges’ pending decision to turn pro.
But if there exists such a thing as optimism in defeat, the Spartans had it a year ago in Tulsa, Okla.
At least some of Bridges’ teammates – many of them his freshman classmates – knew at that point he would be back with them for a second season. Returning almost completely intact, they believed, would bring them to bigger heights in 2018.