Michigan State basketball has begun its "run" to a Final Four with a quick two-game winning streak to begin the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Spartans beat Bryant and New Mexico to advance to the Sweet 16.

This team is the best Tom Izzo has had in years and it feels like it could be really special.

That special feeling has been hovering around for months now, and was strengthened with the eight-game winning streak over Quad 1 teams. Now that two rounds are down and another Final Four is within reach, it's time to look at some similarities between this special team and the 2000 national title squad.

These are all wild coincidences.

Michigan State lost three conference games in 2000 and 2025, both teams were deep enough to have 10 players averaging 10-plus minutes, both had a freshman named J. Richardson, both played their first two rounds in Cleveland and faced a Mountain West team in the second round, and both beat a "Richard" head coach in the second round. Obviously these are oddly specific, but the similarities are actually insane.

Up next: national title.

This run isn't just similar the 2000 national title team's run, but it's also very similar the 2019 Final Four team. That team also won the Big Ten but it did win the Big Ten Tournament with a third victory over Michigan and this year's squad has a chance to win a third over the Wolverines in the Elite Eight.

Other similarities include:

The 2018-19 team also earned a 2-seed.
It had a bit of a scare in the first round against a 15-seed before pulling away.
It beat Richard Pitino to advance to the Sweet 16.
It faced a "rising" SEC team in the Sweet 16.
It faced Chris Beard.
It also had a half-court buzzer-beater by a guard wearing No. 5 against Maryland.

These might just be crazy coincidences, but I'm going to buy into the "it's happening again" narrative because that gives us all hope. Maybe Michigan State gets it done (again).

History is doomed to repeat itself.