No. 7 Michigan State is steamrolling its way into the postseason right now. After accomplishing just about as impressive of a seven-game winning streak as it gets, the Spartans won the Big Ten by three games.

Their best player during that stretch has been a freshman: Jase Richardson.

“I wasn’t really expecting all this,” Richardson said on Tuesday about whether he expected to come into such a large role during his freshman season.

“Winning the Big Ten was always in my mind, but all the accolades that I got along with it, I wasn’t really expecting,” Richardson explained. “I was just trying to come in here and try to do my job for the team, and my job started getting (bigger). I was getting more minutes and more playing (time) and I kind of just felt like I’ve developed super good around Coach (Tom Izzo) and all the things he’s done for me and put me in a position to succeed.”

Richardson had just been named as one of five players on the Big Ten All-Freshman team earlier that day, also being named as a third team all-conference player.

“I found out this morning,” Richardson said on Tuesday about when he learned about his individual accolades. “I turned on the TV and Big Ten Network happened to be on, and the first thing I saw was the freshman team. So, I kind of watched it on my own and then I didn’t hear about the third-team (all-Big Ten honors) until I got here, to the (practice) facility. My mom called me, she told me about it. I think that’s when I first heard it, and I’m super blessed to be awarded.”

Since Richardson first entered the MSU starting five against Oregon on Feb. 8, he had been playing well enough that some fans and pundits felt that Richardson was deserving of the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year award. Richardson has averaged 15.4 points per game as a starter.

Maryland’s Derik Queen won it instead, and Richardson agrees with that.

“No,” is what Richardson told Spartans Illustrated about if he felt that he should’ve won the Freshman of the Year award. “Derik Queen’s had a tremendous season. I just congratulated him this morning, because I’ve known him for a while, and I definitely think he was deserving of that, for sure. He’s doing amazing things up there at Maryland.”

There was no underlying animosity behind the answer. Richardson seemed genuinely happy for Queen, since they’ve been playing against each other since the eighth grade.

“Congratulations. Hopefully, we’ll see you guys in the Big Ten (Tournament) Championship,” was Richardson’s message to him via Instagram.

It’s an uncommon mentality and almost unusual for someone to be so willing to immediately give credit to others when it comes to individual awards. Pound-for-pound, Richardson is perhaps just as good of a player as Queen is, but perhaps Richardson is the happier guy right now due to his team’s accomplishments.

The one award that Richardson did have an issue with didn’t involve him, however. Richardson thought MSU senior guard Jaden Akins should have won the conference’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award. Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr. won it instead.

“I think what Jaden’s done throughout the season defensively — I don’t think there’s anybody in the league that guards as hard as he does,” Richardson said about Akins. “He’s physical, he guards three, four positions. It didn’t happen to go his way, but in my mind, he’s (Big Ten) Defensive Player of the Year.”

It’s the unselfish attitude that has spread throughout the whole roster: stay humble to yourself, but continue to uplift your teammates.

Richardson doesn’t need to do this. He can be a first-round NBA draft pick this summer if he wants to be and has probably never had more people patting him on the back in his life than right now. It would be easy for any person’s ego to balloon after going from a role guy to star player within a couple months.

“In my mind, I’m thinking that I’ve got to stay consistent,” Richardson said about what his mindset is. “I can’t see my minutes increase and I can’t start playing bad. So for me, it’s always trying to be consistent, always trying to make sure I’m doing something on the court — whether that’s defending, scoring, playmaking — I feel like being out there and not doing anything is kind of not my thing. I really just try to go out there and play as hard as I can.”

Not much Richardson does involves going in the same direction as others, and why should he? His dad, Jason Richardson, won a national title at MSU and had a long NBA career, after all. Even Jase Richardson’s hometown varies, depending on where one looks (he says he’s originally from Denver).

Players coming into East Lansing and heading to the NBA after just one season is also something that is unusual. Richardson could very well become the first Spartan to do so since Max Christie in 2022 and be the first one-and-done to go in the first round since Jaren Jackson Jr. in 2018. Richardson's play has resulted in him receiving “one more year” chants at the end of Michigan State's win over rival Michigan on Sunday.

“It meant a lot,” Richardson said about the chants. “I truly love this fan base. They show so much support to this team, good or bad. They stick with us throughout and it really means a lot.”

Richardson’s roommate isn’t even a fellow freshman, as is often the case: it’s sophomore Coen Carr.

“I feel like I’ve been around him so much and he’s become one of my best friends on this team,” Richardson said about Carr.

Whether Carr has inspired to build the Breslin Center out of Legos or the Millennium Falcon from "Star Wars," he’s been a big piece of helping Richardson get acclimated to life in East Lansing.

“We do everything together,” Richardson said regarding Carr.

Now, Richardson, Carr and the other Spartans are attempting to cement themselves as one of the best MSU teams in the program’s storied history. The focus has gone from the 20-game grind of a Big Ten schedule to where teams truly get remembered: single-elimination tournaments. Michigan State's depth, often playing 10 guys in a single game, can help in this setting.

“There’s going to be nine, 10 guys that are going to play, and we’re all going to play super hard,” Richardson said about what makes Michigan State a danger in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. “So we know, when it’s do-or-die time, everybody’s going to put their body on the line, and when we keep subbing like that, I feel like we’ve got a lot of guys and that keeps everybody’s energy going.”