[2] The 1979 National Championship team was coached by Jud Heathcote and included tournament MVP Magic Johnson, Greg Kelser, and Jay Vincent.

The team was coached by Tom Izzo and led by players Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, Jason Richardson, and tournament MVP Mateen Cleaves.

[5] MAC's first full-time athletic director and one of the Spartan's most successful coaches, Chester Brewer led the football, basketball, and baseball squads to winning records.

Two years later, led by All-American Johnny Green, the Spartans cruised to a Big Ten Championship, winning the league by four games.

[9] Ganakas was fired in 1976, but he continued to be a part of the Michigan State Athletics Department, serving as an assistant A.D. and then as an aide to coach Tom Izzo from 1998 to 2000.

[5] In his second year, he landed one of the game's all-time greats, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, from nearby Lansing Everett High School, as a recruit.

"I had to orchestrate the hiring of Tom through (trustees) Bob Weiss and Joel Ferguson and the president (Peter McPherson) because most people wanted to open it up and see who would apply.

However, Cleaves sustained a stress fracture in his right foot prior to the season which forced him to miss the non-conference schedule and MSU fell to 9–4 and ranked No.

In their Final Four matchup, Michigan State faced off against fellow Big Ten foe, Wisconsin, beating them in a hard-fought game, 53–41.

Led by sophomore Jason Richardson, freshmen Zach Randolph, and seniors Charlie Bell and Andre Hutson, the Spartans finished the non-conference schedule undefeated and ranked No.1 in the country.

With the win, MSU set the record for most Big Ten tournament championships with five (Ohio State has also won five, but one has been vacated due to NCAA violations).

[177] The 2016–17 Spartans were decimated by departures from the prior year as seniors Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes, and Matt Costello all graduated and moved to the NBA.

Freshman Deyonta Davis also declared his eligibility for the NBA after the year and sophomores Javon Bess and Marvin Clark transferred out of the program.

In response, MSU welcomed their most-heralded recruiting class ever as four top-50 ranked players entered the program: Miles Bridges, Joshua Langford, Cassius Winston, and Nick Ward.

A young team would look to graduate transfer Ben Carter and seniors Gavin Schilling and Eron Harris to fill the holes left by departing players.

Bridges missed seven games with a knee injury near the end of the non-conference slate and the Spartans, who started the season ranked as high as 10 in some polls, entered Big Ten play with an 8–5 record.

Izzo would lament his early-season schedule which involved trips to Hawaii, New York, and the Bahamas when his young team wouldn't get needed practice time.

[184] On February 17, 2018 while playing at Northwestern, the Spartans overcame a 27-point deficit to beat the Wildcats, at that time, the fifth largest comeback all-time in Division I history.

For much of the season, the on-court play was shrouded by reports that surfaced that Tom Izzo's program had covered up sexual assault allegations ten years prior.

[193] The school was implicated tangentially to the FBI-college basketball scandal as reports surfaced that Bridges had been paid to attend Michigan State, among other allegations.

Despite having multiple first round NBA Draft picks, the Spartans knocked off the Blue Devils to earn a trip to the school's 10th Final Four and eighth under Izzo.

MSU rebounded as Winston struggled to return to his All-American form and the Spartans did not lose again until Big Ten play after starting the conference schedule 5–0.

Cassius Winston finished his MSU career with the most assists in Big Ten history and was a consensus second team All-American for the second consecutive year.

Upon returning to play, MSU lost three straight dropping their conference record to 2–7 on the season and making it seem highly unlikely that they would continue the school's NCAA tournament appearance streak.

At 9–11 in the Big Ten, MSU finished with a losing record for the first time under Izzo, but looked safe to move the NCAA tournament streak to 23 straight appearances.

Looking to improve on the previous year's Sweet Sixteen appearance, the Spartans returned all major contributors to the team except Joey Hauser.

After his early success with Magic Johnson and company, Heathcote finished his career strong, appearing in five NCAA tournaments in his final six years.

Other assistants who worked under Heathcote went on to head coaching positions: Don Monson (Idaho and Oregon), Bill Berry (San Jose State), Mike Deane (Siena, Marquette, Lamar, and Wagner), Jim Boylan (Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks), Jim Boylen (Utah), Stan Joplin (Toledo), and Brian Gregory (Dayton, Georgia Tech, and South Florida).

[209] Izzo has guided the Spartans to eight NCAA Final Fours since 1999, an accomplishment unmatched by any other college basketball program during that span.

[240] The arena underwent a $50 million renovation to improve the visitor experience and to create a Michigan State University Basketball Hall of History.