7-Eleven is more than a convenience store.  It’s the stat that shows what Michigan State basketball has become in its March to post-season glory.

With a 65-54 win over Pittsburgh, your Big East Tournament champ and Bob Knight’s trendy pick to win the national title, the Spartans advanced to their seventh NCAA Sweet 16 in 11 seasons.

Of the four schools with longer NCAA Tournament streaks than MSU, Arizona and Kentucky lost first-round games.  And Duke dodged a 2-vs.-15 defeat, then headed home just two days later.  Only top-seeded Kansas looked like an elite program.

That brings us back to the Spartans, who disappointed their fans, their coaches and themselves for 11 weeks, then boosted their record to 27-8, the fourth-winningest mark in school history.

How convenient!

They also helped Tom Izzo boost his NCAA mark to 26-9 - nine more triumphs than the combined MSU total for predecessors Pete Newell, Forddy Anderson, Gus Ganakas and Jud Heathcote.
That gave the Spartans 26 NCAA wins since Michigan’s last recognized sighting in the field of 64 or 65.  This season, the Wolverines fell from 22-13 to 9-22, went 0-12 against NCAA participants and lost to Harvard, Central Michigan and Northwestern.

But MSU is long past measuring itself against the Bumbling Beileins.  It’s judged against the toughest opponent of all - expectations, not just hopes, of greatness.

If the Spartans weren’t perfect in the Pepsi Center, they were good enough to give the Big Ten a second team in the second week on the NAFTA highway to San Antonio.

Better yet, they were good enough to wash away the grime of seven Big Ten setbacks - six in league play plus a foul-induced loss to Wisconsin in the tournament.

In 40 minutes against the Panthers, MSU was cleansed.  So what if a Pitt team that missed 22 foul shots in its Big East title win over Georgetown missed one free throw Saturday night?  It could’ve made 10 more shots at the line and still lost to the Spartans.

Unless you’re allergic to green, you have to feel great for made-for-March senior Drew Neitzel, mercurial freshman Kalin Lucas and much-maligned junior Goran Suton.  Each made a State-ment on a national stage.

Have you ever seen more joy from an athlete than Neitzel showed after a defensive stop in the closing minutes?  Have you seen a blur any quicker than Lucas when he gets a sniff of the basket?  And have you seen “A Boy Named Su-ton” become the man on offense at a better time?
No, no and no are the correct answers.  And it all comes back to aggression.

When MSU plays with passion and purpose, it can play with any team in the land.  When that doesn’t happen, the Spartans’ season can end in two hours, whether the foe is UCLA or you and four guys from Penn State (or one Nittany Lion and three officials).

Against the top-seeded Memphis Tigers or another MSU, the eighth-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs, the key is to attack at all times.  After attacking their critics with two terrific efforts, the Spartans can reach their fifth Final Four in 10 seasons.

Gene Keady and John Chaney didn’t do that once.