After four years of trying to prove it to their fans, Michigan State’s seniors were not the most disappointing senior class in recent history. They finally showed it on Sunday.

In their 94-88 double-overtime victory over Kentucky on Sunday, each player from the senior trio of Alan Anderson, Kelvin Torbert and Chris Hill reached the pinnacle of his much-maligned career by propelling the Spartans to an unlikely odyssey in St. Louis next weekend.

As much as people will go on and on about Michigan State being an out-of-nowhere party crasher to the Final Four, one glance at the Austin bracket may prove otherwise.

The Austin region was full of watered-down versions of traditional basketball powers.

First-seeded Duke, while still having a lineup full of McDonald’s All-Americans, had depth issues.

Second-seeded Kentucky lacked the overall talent of previous Wildcats teams.

And third-ranked Oklahoma was still trying to prove doubters wrong even after winning the Big 12 regular season title.

Not to mention fourth-seeded Syracuse, which relied too heavily on the woefully inconsistent Gerry McNamara and senior forward Hakim Warrick and was picked by experts to either reach the Final Four or get upset in the first round by Vermont.

Almost on cue, the four seeds ahead of Michigan State fell victim to their aforementioned weaknesses.

The Orangemen … I mean Orange (Sorry Nancy Cantor), were torched by Vermont senior T.J. Sorrentine and the upstart Catamounts. And many brackets were promptly crumpled up and thrown in the garbage.

Oklahoma was no match for Utah and potential National Player of the Year Andrew Bogut in the second round.

And Duke, apparently distracted by all of Coach K’s commercial shoots, flirted with disaster against Mississippi State before finally having to dust off their seldom-used bench and succumb to the hard-charging Spartans.

But the regional final no one expected turned out to be a game no one will forget.

Tubby Smith’s Kentucky squad were willed to win by a Patrick Sparks shot that was finally ruled a three-pointer after a seven-minute delay that extended the epic into overtime.

A game between two heavyweight fighters with rich tradition extended by ten minutes what could be the greatest weekend in tournament history.

Eventually, foul trouble to upperclassmen Kelenna Azubuike and Chuck Hayes forced Coach Smith to throw his youth into the fire in a situation that doesn’t call for inexperience.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo countered using his depth as an advantage.

Izzo rotated 10 players in and out of the lineup all night, something unheard of in college basketball. And the Spartans upperclassmen, after years of criticism, finally responded.

A team labeled as inconsistent and unable to take that next step proved all of those doubters wrong and gave a blueprint for success in the tournament – depth will go a long way in the NCAA Tournament.

The Big Ten and the Michigan State Spartans are showing their depth at the right time.

Jeff Feyerer is a senior in applied life studies. He can be reached at [email protected].