With future looking bright, Michigan State can play free in NCAA Tournament

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A few minutes after 11 p.m. on Selection Sunday, an email from Michigan State's athletic communications department underscored the basketball program's ubiquity this time of year. Izzo Sets Record for Most Consecutive NCAA Tournament Appearances as Spartans Extend Streak to 25 Straight, the subject line read, and the body of the message explained how head coach Tom Izzo, now 68 years old, had surpassed former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's mark of 24 uninterrupted bids.

At 19-12 overall and with a modest 11-8 mark in conference play, the Spartans have entered March Madness largely devoid of external pressure for a third consecutive season. They began the year unranked, climbed into the Top 25 after beating Kentucky and Villanova in back-to-back games — the former on a neutral court, the latter at the Breslin Center — before tumbling out of the polls for good in early December. Izzo believed his team had a chance to win the Big Ten Tournament after rounding into form with five victories in seven games to end the regular season, but Michigan State was quickly upended, 68-58, in a sluggish loss to 13th-seeded Ohio State.

Last week's deflation in Chicago extended one of the more languid periods of Izzo's empyrean career in East Lansing that includes parts of four decades. His average seed during the first 22 NCAA Tournament appearances of this remarkable run was 4.6 between 1998 and 2019, a stretch in which he made eight Final Fours and captured the second national title in school history. But over the last three years — as Michigan State won just 31 of 59 conference games for a .525 winning percentage that paled in comparison to Izzo's career mark of .675 — the Spartans' average seed slipped to 8.3 after bottoming out as an 11-seed in 2021, failing to advance beyond the First Four.

"I feel like you come here to get to a Final Four," guard Tyson Walker said on Thursday. "That's kind of like the staple. Just making it out the first weekend is good, but we're trying to make a run. Coach has done it. We've just got to follow his lead."

How much staying power this year's 7-seed team has will be examined Friday, at 12:15 p.m. ET, against No. 10 USC, with the winner of that game expected to face second-seeded Marquette on Sunday. But for a certain faction of Michigan State's rabid fans, anything the Spartans accomplish this week at Nationwide Arena is a bonus considering the caliber of recruiting class Izzo signed for 2023. 

His collection of two five-star prospects and two four-star prospects ranks third nationally in the 247Sports Composite behind blue-chip hoarders Duke and Kentucky, and it's the first time Izzo has secured a top-10 class since 2016.

The pick of the litter is Xavier Booker, a 6-foot-10, 205-pound center who averaged 15.2 points and 8.3 rebounds for Cathedral High School in Indianapolis. As the No. 8 player in his class and the No. 2 center, Booker is sandwiched between former Michigan State stars Jaren Jackson Jr. (No. 8 overall in 2017) and Miles Bridges (No. 12 overall in 2016) as the third-best recruit in program history since 247Sports began recording data in 2000. Ex-Spartan shooting guard Shannon Brown, who was the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2003 recruiting cycle, is the only player with a higher ranking than Jackson (second), Booker (third) and Bridges (fourth).

The remainder of the '23 class consists of five-star point guard Jeremy Fears (No. 24 overall, No. 5 PG); four-star power forward Coen Carr (No. 52 overall, No. 10 PF) and small forward Gehrig Normand (No. 102 overall, No. 24 SF).

"Man, it's awesome," forward Jaxon Kohler said. "I know that they're a great group of guys. I've had the opportunity to play with them and just kind of be around them — not just as a basketball player, but as a human being. At the end of the day, you know, you have to make sure they're good people, and each one of them are amazing people. And on the court, you know, it's even better to play with them because they have such great talent coming in. I'm excited to play with each and every one of them."

By navigating the 2022-23 campaign with only 10 scholarship players — three below the maximum threshold — Izzo can incorporate the elite recruiting class without turning away some of his veterans who'd like to return. Walker (14.6 points per game), small forward Malik Hall (9.2 points, 4.2 rebounds per game) and power forward Joey Hauser (14.2 points, 6.9 rebounds per game) all possess leftover eligibility despite being listed as seniors or graduate students on this year's roster. None of them have announced or finalized their intentions for next season, though Hauser has indicated he's likely to depart.

As great as it sounds to infuse the nucleus of this year's roster with an ultra-talented freshman class, the teams Izzo built around Bridges and Jackson still underachieved in the postseason. Bridges' first year at Michigan State ended with a quarterfinal loss in the Big Ten Tournament and a second-round thumping by top-seeded Kansas in the NCAA Tournament. Jackson joined the following year, in 2017-18, and paired with Bridges in leading Michigan State to a 28-3 record during the regular season before suffering two more early stumbles: a semifinal loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament and a second-round loss to Syracuse after earning a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"I've been a 1-seed and lost in the first weekend," Izzo said. "Been a 1-seed and went to a Final Four. Been a 7-seed and got to a Final Four. So why not do it again? Who knows?"

Recent introductions of both NIL and the transfer portal have offered life rafts to players facing the harsh realization that talent alone doesn't guarantee success. Roster building and, more importantly, roster balancing have morphed into a ceaseless, year-round endeavor for coaching staffs across the country — even as March Madness rampages through its first weekend. Dozens of players entered the portal earlier this week after their respective seasons drew to a close, and by Thursday morning USC head coach Andy Enfield cracked a joke about sleeping in while his assistants arise at 5 a.m. to study film of potential additions.

The reality is that any team making a postseason run can look far different next week.

"Players are worried about who you're taking as a transfer, what you're doing here, what you're doing there," Izzo said. "Very difficult to manage a roster right now for coaches. But it's very difficult for players to figure out, ‘Where should I go?' and ‘Are they going to pick up three more guys?' We used to know those things. So I continuously say — and I'll say it until I'm done — players, I think, are getting hurt more than they're getting helped.

"I mean, I'm going to find players. I'm going to get players and win games. How many? I don't know. But I'm going to get enough. But those players, they get certain lengths of time and it [only] works out really good for a couple."

That's why it's best to enjoy the present, no matter how promising the future might seem.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

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