MSU Set for NCAA Showdown. Spartans Eyeing a Spot in Final Four Competition
Tom Izzo and Michigan State Basketball have undergone a wild run over the last five months. The Detroit Free Press noted that the Big Ten regular-season champion Spartans (27-6) are playing at a level the team hasn’t experienced since the cancellation of the NCAA tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. MSU won 13 consecutive games at one point this season, followed by eight straight games before the team’s loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, March 15.
MSU is the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament’s South region. Izzo’s team will open play on Friday, March 21, in Cleveland against No. 15 seed Bryant. Izzo hopes he can take his team to the Final Four for the first time since 2019.
Writing for the Free Press, Chris Solari believes the keys to the Spartans’ success lie in three areas: mixing and matching against opponents, beefing up the guards, and “let Izzo be Izzo.”
Throughout the season, the Spartans have been able to grind down opponents in various ways. Izzo’s 10-man rotation and shifts based on favorable matchups have proven integral to the team’s success.
“The one thing the depth has done is allow MSU to get back to the cardinal tenets Izzo built his program on — defense and rebounding,” Solari said. “The Spartans rank second in the nation in three-point defense (27.9%), 26th in field-goal defense (40.3%), 13th in rebounds per game (39.82), and fifth in rebounding margin (plus-9.1).”
The Spartans’ guards are at the heart of the team’s strength. Freshman Jace Richardson and redshirt freshman point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. have stepped up to make big plays for MSU. Richardson has averaged 17.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 30.5 minutes over the past 11 games. Fears has posted 11.5 points and five assists a game, with five steals and nine rebounds over the past four games combined.
Finally, Izzo has experience at this level of competition. He’s 56-25 in the NCAA tournament, and his eight Final Four appearances are the most among active college basketball coaches. Even after his team’s second-round loss to top-seeded North Carolina last year, Izzo is 24-8 all-time in the second game of an NCAA tournament weekend.
Izzo is as hungry as ever for a No. 2 national title win, “a total he believes separates great coaches from legendary ones,” Solari said.
