The Spartans were all business last night after sweating out a 64-59 victory over Indiana to clinch their first outright Big Ten title since 1999. That makes sense in one way: a down-to-the-wire victory over the worst Indiana team in memory isn’t exactly cause for storming the court, even if the decisive play was one for Raymar Morgan’s career highlight reel. But as the team and its fans look forward to the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments, let’s make sure we don’t overlook what they’ve done.

Lots of MSU fans know that every Tom Izzo recruit who’s stayed four years has gone to the Final Four, and that streak is on the line this year with Travis Walton. (Fellow seniors Goran Suton and Marquise Gray were redshirt freshman during MSU’s 2005 Final Four run.) But plenty of Tom Izzo recruits haven’t done what this 2008-09 team has, namely win the Big Ten’s regular season title. Think about it: the Chris Hill-Kelvin Torbert-Allen Anderson teams never won the Big Ten. Same for the Paul Davis-Maurice Ager-Shannon Brown teams. After watching nemeses like Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Devin Harris, Greg Oden and Mike Conley win conference championships, State is finally back on top.

This Michigan State team is just beginning its push for posterity. But they’ve already added a nice a line to their resume.