Izzo's Super Seven: Spartans made improbable run to 2009 title game in Detroit

 Each year in East Lansing, the calendar reads like this.

“January, February, Izzo, April.”

You earn that kind of respect when you have taken your team to the NCAA Tournament for 21 straight seasons, including seven appearances in the Final Four like Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has. Since taking over for Jud Heathcote in 1995, Izzo has been one of the most successful coaches in college basketball, cementing his legacy with a national championship title in 2000. Izzo was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Izzo’s programs have long been synonymous with winning championships, but his former players will tell you it’s about much more than that. For 23 seasons, MSU basketball has been a family.

The Lansing State Journal spoke with former Spartan basketball players for a seven-part series, chronicling every trip Izzo has made to the Final Four.

Today it's the trip they took in 2009

EAST LANSING — The Big Ten champion Spartans made their first Final Four appearance in four years in 2009. The rallying cry that season was a simple one – get to Detroit.

Michigan State rolled through Robert Morris in the opening round before squeaking past Southern California, 74-69, to reach the Sweet 16. There, Tom Izzo’s Big Ten champs rallied from a double-digit deficit, and thanks to a late Kalin Lucas three, knocked off Kansas, 67-62. Next came the tournament’s top-seeded team, Louisville.

Lansing Everett’s Goran Suton had an answer for them, earning the Midwest Regional’s Most Outstanding Player with a 19-point, 10-rebound performance in the 64-52 upset win.

MSU fans painted the Motor City green during the Final Four. The team responded. Playing 89 miles from campus at Ford Field, the Spartans rolled past UConn 82-73 in the semifinal game. Unfortunately for Izzo and the Spartans, the party ended there. Two nights later, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and the North Carolina Tar Heels captured the national title with an 89-72 win.

Former Spartans Durrell Summers and Suton shared their thoughts and memories of the 2008-2009 season and what transpired on their run to the national championship game in Detroit.

IZZO'S SUPER SEVEN:

• 1999 MSU team dominated Big Ten, reached first Final Four since 1979
• Flintstones, Izzo cut down the nets in 2000, claiming national title
• MSU's 2001 repeat bid falls short in third straight trip to Final Four
• Michigan State ‘sledgehammers’ way to 2005 Final Four

Memories

Durrell Summers: Just thinking back, my favorite memory might have to be winning six in a row to capture the Big Ten outright. We had a lot of ups and downs, but, as a team, we came together. By the end, we were able to make it to the championship game. It doesn’t get much better than that. The love we got from the city was unbelievable at that time. Probably the biggest highlight for me was going to the pre-events of the Final Four in Detroit. The mall and things like that. That was a mall I’ve been shopping at since I was a kid. There was a crazy pep rally. It was crazy to see the love and support and the friends and family. I never saw anything like it.

Goran Suton: That’s a tough question. Looking back, I think about how close we were as a group. I spent five years with Travis (Walton), three years with Marquise Gray. I think about the young guys that we bought in; Draymond (Green), Durrell (Summers). They were great guys. They were so much fun to be around every day and compete against.

Stories

Summers: That year we had a lot of characters on that team, so lots of funny stuff. I think one of the highlights -- he won’t be too happy about this -- I can’t remember the exact game, but Raymar (Morgan) chipped his tooth and it flew out. We couldn’t stop laughing at his reaction. I thought this guy had just lost an arm. We are all trying to stay focused. It was too funny. He’s a funny guy. Finally, it was a joke on him that he couldn’t control. The way he reacted was everything. He got it fixed right away. We were cracking on him 24/7. That team, we had a lot of characters. You are going to get joked on. Izzo didn’t really care about it. Iz was still drawing up plays, not focused on it as much as we were. This was in the tournament. The Sweet 16 or something. It was hilarious. They even had a slow-motion video.

Suton: Other than Izzo ripping me a new one? During the Kansas game, Chris Allen was shooting free throws. (Idong) Ibok just checked in. Allen makes the second free throw and Ibok inbounds the ball, and it was Kansas' ball. That was hilarious. I still link it to my friends and link it to him to remind him what he did. Go to Youtube and search for inbound Ibok. It will come up.

Turning point

Summers: One thing that comes to mind. We Just had a great regular season and won the league outright by however many games and had the road-wins-in-a-row record. We went to the Big Ten Tournament, and we were dysfunctional a little bit. Everyone thought we should run it, and we lost a game we shouldn’t have lost. Even our parents realized something was off from watching us play. We didn’t even realize you could tell. Everyone watching knew something wasn’t right. We went back to East Lansing and had a big team meeting with coach Iz, and we worked it out. Whatever was going on, we worked it out and got tighter than ever. It prepared us for a huge tournament run. We all had the same goal at the end of the day. We wanted to make it to the national championship game. We had seniors who would’ve been the first class to not make it to the Final Four in their four years. Those seniors were at risk. That was added motivation. It being in Detroit, most of the guys are Midwest guys. It was added incentive. We have to do whatever it takes to make that happen. We had the toughest schedule during that tournament ever. No one expected us to do it. We made it happen.

Suton: It was an odd year because, I believe we won six games in conference play on the road, but lost to Northwestern and Penn State at home. They were the two worst teams in the league at the time. We had issues in the Big Ten tournament and lost to Ohio State. We really regrouped and made a run to the title game. We had everything; leadership in Travis (Walton) and me. I didn’t speak as much as Trav, but kept guys in check. We held each other accountable. We just ran into a better team in North Carolina.

Unsung hero

Summers: I would have to say there were two unsung heroes. First, the practice squad. Those guys, they don’t really play, and they get no credit. They did an unbelievable job of preparing us. Playing against us, some days, they kicked our ass. They played better, and I gave them utmost credit. They prepared us in practice. Coach (Mike) Garland was the second. He started a thing in the hotel on the nights before the game. He made me sing and read lyrics to the whole team. Random things like that helped bring us together and helped us prepare. We made different T-shirts with different sayings on them.

Suton: A lot of guys. Austin Thronton, he challenged guys every day. Draymond (Green) had a hell of a tournament as a freshman. He stepped up during tournament time. He had his struggles, definitely, and no one thought he’d be an NBA All-star. He was a freshman, but you could see how talented he was.

Reflection

Summers: As a freshman (the year prior) and having that first taste of the tournament was a testament to all the work we put in. We lost in the Sweet 16. It just made it that much harder. That summer, we put in work. We trained, and we had the toughest practices, workouts I’ve ever seen. Guys were getting through it, and that motivated us. We were a team full of tough guys who love to compete. We had enough confidence in ourselves to try and outwork each other. It turned into that on the court. In the Final Four and in the title game, you put in so much work, you don’t really make mistakes. It’s like a movie. You don’t control yourself. You see and take the open shot. The team with the most errors loses. It was amazing to play in front of 80,000 people and legends like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and family and friends in the crowd. The energy around the city was amazing. My phone messages went off for hours. I’ve never seen that before. It felt good to get that love and show they appreciated the love we brought. That felt good and made us work even harder. It was a once in a lifetime thing to play at home.

Goran: It was the best year of my life. I had so much fun, man. We played in front of 73,000 fans in Detroit. There were a lot of emotions. It’s a pity that we didn’t win the whole thing. For us, it was an amazing year. A total success.

Prediction

Summers: This team, they have only lost a few games. They have a great potential. If I was in Las Vegas, I’d be placing my bets on that team. They are doing great, especially with all the adversity going on. They are great at channeling adversity and grinding out hard work and turning it into success. If this team was a good team now, just watch how they will do better. We thrive off of adversity and being hated on. We thrive on that. It elevates our game.

Goran: It’s tough, man. I watch one day and think they can win it all, then the other day, they had their struggles. I believe in them because I believe in Izzo. I think they can go all the way. I’ve watched his teams numerous times come together and knock down threes. It’s hard to stop.

Contact Cody Tucker at (517) 377-1070 or cjtucker@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @CodyTucker_LSJ. 

2009 NCAA Tournament

1st round Beat Robert Morris 77-62

2nd round Beat USC 74-69

3rd round (Sweet 16) Beat Kansas 67-62

4th round (Elite Eight) Beat Louisville 64-52

5th round (Final Four) Beat UConn 82-73

6th round (National title game) Lost to UNC 89-72

Roster

00 Idong Ibok (6-11, Sr., C) 0.4

1 Kalin Lucas (6-0, So., G) 14.7

2 Raymar Morgan (6-8, Jr., F) 10.2

3 Chris Allen (6-3, So., G) 8.4

5 Travis Walton (6-2, Sr., G) 5.1

10 Delvon Roe (6-8, Fr., F) 5.6

13 Austin Thornton (6-5, Fr., F) 1.2

14 Goran Suton (6-10, Sr., C) 10.4

15 Durrell Summers (6-4, So., G) 8.6

20 Mike Kebler (6-4, So., G) 0.5

22 Isaiah Dahlman (6-6, Jr., G) 0.8

23 Draymond Green (6-6, Fr., F) 3.3

25 Jon Crandell (6-8, Jr., F) 0.4

34 Korie Lucious (5-11, Fr., G) 3.2

40 Tom Herzog (7-0, So., C) 0.6

41 Marquise Gray (6-8, Sr., F) 3.1