NCAA basketball: Ranking every national champion this century: Is Baylor the best?

19. Michigan State Spartans, 2000

Final Record: 32-7 | Def. Florida 89-76

As is commonplace in the college basketball world, even at the beginning of the century, Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans entered the 1999-2000 season with high expectations, ranked No. 3 in the preseason poll and suspected of being a legitimate title contender. However, the start for Sparty was a bit inauspicious.

Star guard Mateen Cleaves forced to the sidelines early in the year with an injury, Michigan State suffered some tough early losses, including a near unforgivable one to Wright State in late December that brought their record to 9-4 and dropped them outside of the top 10 in the polls. The narrative changed late in the year, though.

Once Cleaves rejoined Morris Peterson and Charlie Bell on the floor, they started clicking once again as they finished the year on a 14-3 run. They went on to win the Big Ten Tournament and their run didn’t stop there as they not only made their way through the NCAA Tournament but did so in dominant fashion, never winning by less than double-digits on the year.

With a loss to Wright State on the resumé and given the fact that the overall talent of the Spartans this season wasn’t all that impressive — at least from a long-term perspective — Michigan State comes in near the bottom of the list. Their body of work to getting a championship just doesn’t totally stack up.