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Jeremy Fears Jr. Calls Detroit Final Four ‘Our Goal’
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- Jeremy Fears Jr. Calls Detroit Final Four ‘Our Goal’
With the Final Four returning to Ford Field on April 3 and 5, 2027 , and with Michigan State serving as the host institution, the Michigan State Spartans are not hiding what they want out of this season. "That's our dream. That's our goal," Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr. told Andy Katz in a Big Ten Men's Basketball video from Thursday's media days, with teammate Coen Carr sitting next to him.
Michigan State went 27-8 last season and finished 15-5 in Big Ten play , a three-way tie for second with Illinois and Nebraska behind a Michigan team that ran away with the league at 19-1. The Spartans carried the No. 3 seed into the conference tournament.
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Illinois, not Michigan State, is the preseason pick to win the conference. The Illini took 18 of 28 first-place votes and 498 points in The Columbus Dispatch's annual Big Ten media poll , released Oct. 5. Michigan State came in second with nine first-place votes and 483 points, and reigning champion Michigan was third.
Jeremy Fears Jr. and Coen Carr Carry Michigan State's Final Four Hopes
Tom Izzo will lean on Fears and Carr to get the Spartans there. The same media panel voted Fears the league's preseason Player of the Year , and it was not close: he drew 23 of the 28 votes. Last season Fears played 35 games and averaged 15.2 points, 9.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds.
Carr also appeared in 35 games for Michigan State, averaging 12.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists. The 6-foot-6 senior forward is going to be another important factor on this Spartans team.
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Michigan State's Last Final Four Trip Came in 2019
The last time Michigan State reached the Final Four was 2019 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, where Texas Tech beat the Spartans 61-51 in the national semifinal. Eight seasons have passed since. Getting back to one in their own state, in a building Spartans fans can drive to, would be worth plenty to this program.
The 2009 Final Four at Ford Field Ended in a Loss
The last Final Four held in Detroit, in 2009, put Michigan State in the national championship game, where North Carolina won 89-72. The Spartans have not won a national title since 2000, when they beat Florida. A different ending in 2027 is the version Izzo's team keeps describing out loud.
