No apologies or regrets.

Michigan State will mourn destiny dashed, but time will lessen the sting of falling one win shy of the national championship. These Spartans won't be remembered for how they finished but for what they started.

There's power in pulling together for a common goal, and these past seven days gave the city of Detroit and state of Michigan a rallying point.

That's the legacy of their Detroit visit.

North Carolina can't diminish that.

The Tar Heels proved themselves the better team in Ford Field — again. There's no surprise there, nor was there any shame in their convincing 89-72 victory Monday night before a Ford Field crowd that was 90% behind Michigan State.

If the Spartans had those 60,000 partisans on the floor playing defense, they might have — might have — slowed Carolina's own unrelenting drive toward destiny.

But nothing really changed from when the Tar Heels came to Detroit on Dec. 3 and laid a 35-point whipping on the home boys. The general thought then was that there was North Carolina, and then there was everybody else on a lesser tier.

The Spartans deserve thanks for providing a momentary escape from plant closings, job losses, home foreclosures and impending bankruptcies. They will want to forget how North Carolina dissected a defense that neither Connecticut nor Louisville could penetrate.

But they'll find enduring comfort in the memory of their team bus passing a sign at Cass Tech High on its way to Ford Field each of the last five days saying, "Thank you, Michigan State."

They'll mine solace from the recollections of those who adopted them this past week, many of whom didn't have any brand identification to Michigan State till now. One of their more appreciative supporters was standing in the tunnel awaiting their arrival following the game.

Magic Johnson had a smile and a hug for all of them.

"Anytime you lose in a heated competition," he said, "it's going to linger for a while. But in time they'll understand what a big lift they gave everybody around here. They'll be back. They're still a young team. They'll be back."

The fact that Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, two native Detroiters, fueled the Spartans' charge to the brink of a national championship certainly will raise Michigan State's profile in the city.

Lucas and Summers were Tom Izzo's first significant Detroit recruits. They have known each other since middle school. And when Lucas committed to the Spartans, Summers followed the point guard's lead.

"As far as I'm concerned," Summers said, "next season starts tomorrow. We'll learn from this and use this experience to teach the younger guys coming in next season about what it takes to get back to this level."

The talent keeps coming, and more of it's coming from Detroit. So much so that Detroit could become MSU basketball's next Flint.

That was Lucas' plan when he committed to the Spartans. Several high-profile programs courted the Orchard Lake St. Mary's star, but he was dismissed when he came to Michigan State — a national player opting for a regional program. Yet Lucas could become Detroit's Pied Piper.

Izzo already has secured Michigan's reigning Mr. Basketball, forward Derrick Nix from Detroit Pershing, and he has a verbal commitment from the 2010 favorite, Nix's teammate, guard Keith Appling, who scored a state-finals record 49 points in the Doughboys' championship victory last week.

There's always tomorrow — even following the worst setback.

There was a trophy at stake Monday night, but the winner also earned Team of the Decade honors.

Michigan State had one national title and four Final Fours the last 10 years entering the 2009 tournament, while North Carolina had one national title and three Final Fours. They have been the two most consistent, most successful programs through the last 10 NCAA tournaments.

But on this night, North Carolina ruled once again. The Tar Heels were as much a team of destiny as the Spartans. They have four likely first-round NBA draft picks who came back for another season because they wanted a national championship.

But don't paint them as villains because they snatched away something that people here thought belonged to them.

This was about basketball, nothing else.

And the much better basketball team deservedly earned its spoils.