As if playing in the NCAA Tournament wasn’t stressful enough, the Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team now has a Presidential prediction to uphold. That, combined with the way the Spartans ended the season, has created a new level of expectation for the team this March.
At a recent press conference, some of the Spartan players talked about the added level of hype that is now surrounding their program.
Senior center Adreian Payne:
"That’s a tremendous accomplishment. Just having him be able to say that about us, because we’re playing well right now, and we just have been through so much adversity and stuff. So, it’s been hard to really see our team and be able to show what we could do in the Big Ten Tournament. It’s just been great for us to be able to continue to play with each other."
Senior guard Keith Appling:
"I think it’s great that people have such high expectations for us as a team. But, heading into the season we had goals as a team that we wanted to accomplish and winning a National Championship is one of them. So, we’re just trying to stay focused with the task at hand and accomplish one of our team goals."
Sophomore guard Gary Harris:
"We had high expectations at the beginning of the year. We hit a little rough patch there at the end. But, we stuck together as a team, held each other accountable, and we knew we could count on each other and we would work our way out of it. And we showed what we could do in the Big Ten Tournament. Now, we just got to keep it going here in this tournament."