E AST LANSING -- Tom Izzo begged Branden Dawson to stay home to rest his surgically repaired knee. But Dawson heard the revelry in the background on the Michigan State bus Sunday night. He wanted to be part of a resurrection that would have amazed even Lazarus.

Dawson told Izzo that he would meet the team when it returned from the Big Ten tournament. When the bus pulled into the Breslin Center tunnel near midnight, a car followed, with the recuperating Dawson in the passenger's seat.

The players immediately greeted their fallen teammate. They had a surprise for him.

Dawson couldn't make the trip to Indianapolis, so the players arranged their own net-cutting ceremony in their Breslin Center locker room, giving the freshman the opportunity to experience that most treasured college tournament ritual: taking scissors to twine.

"It was all the players' idea," Izzo said Monday. "But that's what this team is all about. There's such a special bond, a special connection. I know it's a clich calling a team a family, but that's what this team really is."

This was a family in mourning a week ago. They choked away the chance to have the regular-season Big Ten title all to themselves. There's no other way to phrase it. Izzo called the home loss to Ohio State on the final day his most heartbreaking defeat -- and the man has endured more than his share of emotional coaching torture -- not just because of the conference consequences, but also because he lost his most athletic player, Dawson, for the remainder of the season.

But once again, the Spartans offered a lesson in resilience.

"I didn't think a No. 1 seed was possible at this same time last week," Izzo conceded.

Everyone searches for that epiphany, that moment of clarity when all external forces, mystical and real, align. But when searching for an impetus Monday, Izzo reverted back to what he called "the power of chemistry." Some teams simply heal faster emotionally than others. Some teams see adversity as an opportunity for growth. Some teams simply refuse to fall apart when fate challenges their fortitude.

Izzo admitted that, if given the option, he probably would take the outright regular-season championship over the Big Ten tournament. He called himself a "regular-season guy" but conceded that how the Spartans won the tournament -- and thus earned a No. 1 seed in NCAA tournament -- was probably the best thing for the program.

Excerpt from:
Drew Sharp: MSU has incredible chemistry, but is that enough?