Did Michigan’s Coach Really Not Know About MSU’s 30-Year Tradition?

March 9th marked the end of the regular season for BIG10 conference play and was highlighted by one of the most historic rivalries: Michigan vs Michigan State. Michigan State had already tied up the regular season championship, and both teams have secured double byes in the BIG10 tournament, so this game was purely for bragging rights and MSU's Senior Day.

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With MSU's senior day comes a tradition started 30 years ago that much of the NCAA is familiar with—except Michigan Head Coach Dusty May, apparently, who claimed he didn't know there was a tradition after his players got in a mid-court scuffle during the festivities.

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A Tradition and A Scuffle

For the last 30 years, Michigan State has had a tradition of subbing out their seniors at the end of the game (if time allows), giving them a moment to get a spotlight from the crowd and kiss the logo before heading to the bench one last time.

With the score difference of nearly 18 and MSU at the free-throw line, it was a perfect opportunity to give the three MSU seniors the flowers they deserve. However, two UoM players decided to stand on the logo, seemingly impeding the Spartan players from partaking in the tradition. This led to a scuffle, and the players needed to be separated.

After the game, first-year coach Dusty May was asked if he or his players were unaware of the tradition, to which May feigned ignorance, saying he didn't know there was a tradition. He seemingly blames the Spartans by implying the Wolverines were not doing anything wrong by standing at half-court since there is no rule against it.

It seems incredibly unlikely that neither Dusty May nor his players were aware of the tradition or hadn't been informed that festivities would take place at the end of the game, but if they were unaware, here is a brief history of how the tradition started.

Shawn Respert

On March 11, 1995, Michigan State was dominating Wisconsin 97-72 in head coach Jud Heathcote's final home game as head coach. The senior tradition at the time was similar to the current one, where seniors were subbed out of the game one by one to allow for cheers to honor the work they'd put into the program.

The tradition was started when #24 Shawn Respert was subbed out for the final time after 31 points, sinking 8 three-pointers, and rather than heading straight to the bench, Respert went to center court and kissed the S before making his way to his teammates on the sideline. He went on play for the Suns, Mavericks, Raptors, and the Bucks before becoming a coach (currently an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls).

Since this moment, seniors have ended their careers the way Respert did. The tradition has been covered by many outlets over the years, including an exclusive story from the BIG10 Network about the tradition featuring interviews from Tom Izzo, Mateen Cleaves, Shawn Respert, and more about the moment.

Whether or not Dusty May knew about the tradition, the Wolverine players were unaware, forgetting that a player had just been subbed out and had kissed the floor less than a minute before. We won't know, but the tradition is a beloved part of Spartan history and isn't going anywhere.