Tom Izzo has been the head basketball coach of The Michigan State
Spartans since 1995 when he replaced the legendary Jud Heathcote. Izzo’s
teams have been known for their toughness and grit. Izzo’s first big
recruits to East Lansing were Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, and
Charlie Bell. This trio was out of Flint, Michigan and thus they were
dubbed “The Flintstones”. With The Flintstones leading the charge,
Sparty made consecutive Final Four appearances in 1999 and 2000 and in
their second trip they won it all. You expected those Spartans to make
it to The Final Four, but it has been Izzo’s work after the crew from
Flint left the program that has shown his true greatness.
Since then, Izzo has led Michigan State back to The Final Four on
four occasions and his teams were never expected to make it there. Izzo
and his teams don’t pay attention to what analyst and sports journalist
say or write about them; for if they did The Spartans would be left for
dead at the beginning of every NCAA Tournament. Izzo has seen his teams
knock out the likes of The Duke Blue Devils and Kentucky Wildcats who
are the blue bloods of college basketball in the tournament en route to
The Final Four.
Since Izzo took over at East Lansing, The Spartans have been the
face of The Big Ten Conference winning the conference crown six times.
Izzo’s current team was left for dead early in the season. Sparty came
into the season unranked. The Spartans lost the season opener to The #1
North Carolina Tar Heels on The USS Carl Vinson in San Diego and
followed it up with a loss to Duke at Madison Square Garden. In that one
week, The Spartans had gone coast-to-coast with nothing to show for it
but jet lag.
Since then, Michigan State is 20-3 and they are primed to once again
be a tough out in The NCAA Tournament. Sparty is led by senior forward
Draymond Green who is having his best season in the green and white.
Green is averaging 15 points and 10.5 rebounds. Green’s best asset could
be that he is not a selfish player. As a senior, Green could look to
take more shots, but he is also averaging 3.5 assists per contest.
If Izzo ever got tired of coaching basketball he would make a good
defensive coordinator for Michigan State football and their head coach
Mark Dantonio. Sparty has only allowed three opponents to go over the
70-point plateau this season which is a testament to Izzo’s philosophy
of building tough teams that don’t give up anything cheap. This was
evident is Michigan State’s most recent victory when they defeated The
#3 Ohio State Buckeyes 58-48 in Columbus, Ohio. The win snapped Ohio
State’s 39-game home win streak. The Buckeyes were held to 26.4% field
goal shooting and they were only 2-15 from behind the three-point arc.
Buckeye forward Jared Sullinger had 17 points and 16 boards, but he
had to work for it. The combination of Green and centers Adreian Payne
and Derrick Nix were physical with Sullinger all game rarely giving The
All-American a good look at the basket. The Buckeyes and Spartans are
now tied for the lead in The Big Ten with Michigan State holding a
psychological edge over the team from Columbus.These two teams will meet
in the regular-season finale which could be telling as far who will go
into The Big Ten Tournament as the 1 seed.
At the beginning of January, The Spartans traveled to Madison,
Wisconsin to take on The Wisconsin Badgers. It was once again defense
that lead the way for Michigan State as they won in overtime 63-60. The
Spartans held The Badgers to 33% from the field. Michigan State has the
look of a team that can go deep into March. They play tough defense,
they don’t defeat themselves and they have the ability to go into
hostile environments and walk away with a win. Izzo has made a living
off of this philosophy and his Spartans could be headed to New Orleans
for The Final Four which would be his seventh. Game by game Izzo is just
adding to his legendary resume. Come March the other 67 teams in The
NCAA Tournament will be hoping that they do not have a date with Izzo’s
bunch.
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