SYRACUSE — When it was over, Magic Johnson was all smiles.
Standing in front of the Michigan State bench, the Spartans legend was shaking hands, patting backs and offering encouraging words to the players who had just beaten Louisville 76-70 in overtime in the East Region final in the Carrier Dome to advance to the Final Four.
Mostly, though, the NBA legend offered still more support for Spartans coach Tom Izzo, who is headed to his seventh Final Four with a team that has 11 losses.
“It feels great,” Johnson said. “When March Madness comes, he just delivers his magic.”
Izzo, too, invoked the word magic and not in relation to Johnson.
“Just can’t believe where we’re going,” he said. “I’m going to feel that way until the plane lands, and then it will be fun to go to work and see if we can keep this magical journey going.”
The Final Four will include three No. 1 seeds in Duke, Kentucky and Wisconsin and a No. 7 in Michigan State.
Which one doesn’t belong?
Still, don’t count out Sparty. Izzo joked here that maybe they could repeat the magic of another No. 7 seed from last year. UConn had nine losses when it won the NCAA title as a 7 seed over Kentucky last year.
“You gotta give these young men a lot of credit because they were so inconsistent during the season,” Johnson said. “And now when the Big Ten Tournament came, they got their game going.”
Johnson praised senior guard Travis Trice, who finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists en route to Most Outstanding Player honors, and senior wing Branden Dawson, who tallied 9 points and 11 rebounds.
“This is what senior leadership is about,” Magic said. “Trice has been unbelievable shooting the ball very well. Dawson. [Denzel] Valentine has been unbelievable and we got great contributions from the bench.
“These guys have really come together and led this team and contributions from everybody and Coach Izzo has just had a great game-plan against every team.”
Johnson also praised the Michigan State fans who filled the hotels and the stands here with their dark green clothing.
“They have dominated here,” he said. “Spartan basketball, Spartan nation, we always come out. They supported the football team, now they supported the basketball team. We have great fans around the world. They always come out. When we played Stanford in the Rose Bowl, we had double the fans.”
Two of the Final Four teams are from the Big Ten — with Wisconsin and Michigan State both in along with prohibitive favorite Kentucky of the SEC and Duke of the ACC.
“It says everything because Wisconsin is there and Michigan State is there,” Johnson said. “We’ve always known we have a strong conference and Wisconsin and Michigan State have proven that once again.”
You can bet Johnson will be in Indianapolis when Michigan State faces projected No. 1 pick Jahlil Okafor and Duke on Saturday.
“You don’t have to guess, you know,” he said of his attendance.
He also knows Sparty will be the underdog, but that’s fine by him.
“Oh man, it would be great [if they win the national semifinal], it would be awesome,” he said. “First you gotta get there and they done that.”
He added: “I had my time, my moment, now it’s their turn.”
