The Michigan State men's basketball program enters the 2023-2024 season in an exciting place. After the lost opportunity of the canceled 2020 NCAA Tournament, the Spartans have been in a retooling phase for the past three seasons.
The 2021 season ended with an overtime loss in the First Four to the eventual regional champion, UCLA. In 2022, the Spartans could not hold onto to a late lead and fell in the second round to the eventual regional champion, Duke. In 2023, Michigan State advanced to the Sweet 16 before succumbing to Kansas State in an overtime shootout.
For the first time since Cassius Winston ran the point for the Green and White, the Spartans enter this season with high expectations. Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is embracing the challenge.
"I have seen our team ranked in the top-five or top-10," Izzo said from the podium during the Michigan State basketball media day event on Tuesday. "When people have asked me the question, 'Do you like that?' I always say, 'No. I love it.' We’re not 1997. We’re 2023, and the program has earned the right to be considered a quality program.
"So, if (we're) not ranked there, that upsets me more. I didn't sleep any better knowing there's no pressure on (us) because there's pressure on here every single day. There should be pressure on here every single day. So, we're looking forward to the challenge. We're looking forward to living up to expectations."
But how high should those expectations be? At a program like Michigan State, certain expectations are simply a given.
"Constantly, the goal is to win the Big Ten championship and get to a Final Four," Izzo blatantly put it earlier this week.
However, this Michigan State team is different. This season has a different feel to it. This roster has a ceiling that is the roof, and it isn't just Spartan fans who see it that way.
"My assistant said to me, 'Why do you always talk about getting to a Final Four and not winning national championship?'" Izzo recalled. "I say, 'Because I don't want to put too much pressure on.' Or (I say), '(When) I grew up as a kid, it was all about the Final Four, not who won the national championship, it was more about the Final Four.' So I've decided that maybe I'm part of the problem."
"Relationships matter to me"
Coach Izzo may have shifted his mindset about the way that he talks about the goal of the season, but he also made it clear the foundation of the program will remain the same. Spartan basketball will always be about hard work and a family atmosphere.
"We built (Michigan State) into a top program," Izzo said. "Everybody does it a different way. It's a blue-collar program; it's a blue-collar university, and I'm damn proud of it. That's the way it's going to stay as long as I'm here. We're going to earn our way."
Despite the higher than usual expectations, Izzo is also determined to keep his team and program humble.
"We're going to (avoid) thinking we're bigger than we are, better than we are," Izzo said. "We're going to do it the way this city was built, and the way this university was built from John Hannah on up to George Perles and Jud Heathcote. I think of them every day. That’s what I was brought up on."
Coach Izzo also made it clear that his team and his program also need to stay connected. The changes and disruptions over the past few years ranging from COVID-19 to name, image and likeness (NIL) to the transfer portal have made it harder for everyone, and especially young people, to maintain the level of unity that is necessary to succeed at the highest level in a team sport.
Izzo seems determined as ever to continue to bring people together.
"Relationships matter to me," he said. "They matter. The day is going to come when we get transactional, too. I'll be having a beer and playing golf with some of you in this room (the media), when that happens, because I get a lot out of the relationships.
"We have individual meetings all summer long, and that’s what I love about my job. There’s been a lot of things in the last couple years I haven’t loved about my job, (but) then I get back here, and a guy comes in my office that just went through something tough and I say, ‘That’s why I’m here.’"
This open dialog with his players has been a hallmark of the Michigan State program ever since Izzo arrived. Several Michigan State players could have chosen to leave the program after last season, but Malik Hall, Tyson Walker, A.J. Hoggard, and Jaden Akins decided to return for another year in East Lansing, despite both Hoggard and Akins initially declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft before withdrawing their names.
Coach Izzo described a specific meeting that he had with Akins at the end of the 2022-2023 season that may have helped with the now junior guard's decision to stay. They talked about the things that went well and things that didn't. Izzo even asked Akins what he could have done better as a coach.
"One of the things he thought was that he should have the ball more as far as being able to make decisions," Izzo said about Akins. "I can look you in the eye and tell you at the time, I didn't think he was ready for that, but I gave in a little bit. He understood a little bit. Now he's better with the ball, and maybe because I gave him more of a chance with the ball. If that's the case, kudos to him for saying something and kudos for me for trusting him."
Relationships matter. Trust matters. These might be the two ingredients that can turn a good team into a great one. Izzo summed up the growing bonds in his program as follows:
"There's something about meshing a group of guys together, but this could be one of those best (teams)."
Brass Tacks
Attributes like mindset, relationships, and toughness are important ingredients for teams with dreams as big as those in East Lansing this year. That said, games are won and lost due to what happens on the court. When the conservation turned to these topics, Izzo mentioned the success always starts with the fundamentals of the program.
"At the end of the day, you’ve got to be able to defend and rebound if you're going to be good," Izzo said. "I think the biggest area right now (is that) we have to become a better rebounding team, because at times we're a little smaller."
Izzo has also clearly not recovered emotionally from the fact that the last time Michigan State played in a real game, the Spartans gave up close to 100 points to Kansas State. On that evening, KSU's Markquis Nowell and the Wildcats punished Michigan State with ball screens for the full 45 minutes. Izzo has a plan to prevent a repeat in 2024.
"We're going to have 15 different ways to cover a ball screen," Izzo said. "So if we get a guy 5-foot-2, or if we get a guy 6-foot-10, that's at the point, we're going to do a better job of covering them."
As for other changes to watch for this season, Izzo plans to make effective use of the improved depth on the roster. Last year the Spartans played with only 10 scholarship players, and two of them (Malik Hall and Jaden Akins) missed considerable time due to injuries.
Michigan State added a four-man freshman class and lost only two players, Joey Hauser and Pierre Brooks, in the offseason. So far this year, the entire roster appears healthy (Akins was dealing with a slightly sprained ankle when practice started in late September, but it is not a long-term concern). The Spartans should be able to play at a faster tempo and hopefully make more frequent use of the classic and often deadly Michigan State transition game.
"I'm hoping to go back to playing a little more upbeat like in ’09 or ’05," Coach Izzo said.
If nothing else, players at a higher pace will help keep everyone happy. It is much easier to have 12 players in the rotation if they are going full tilt for the entire game. Izzo even joked that roster management is a no-win situation.
"I just wished I would have saved all the hate mail (from last year) of, ‘Why didn’t you go into the portal, you S.O.B,’" he said. "Now it’ll be, ‘Why do you have so many players, you S.O.B.?’ I’m an S.O.B. no matter what I do."
Tempering Those High Expectations
Even with all the positives that have been outlined above about the potential ceiling of this year's team, Coach Izzo was quick to point out that nothing is certain. His previous 28 years on the bench in East Lansing have taught him that each college basketball season is filled with uncertainty.
"Do I say it's Final Four or bust or win a national championship or bust?" Izzo asked, "I say that's the goal. But I'm realistic enough to know that there's a lot of factors."
Izzo went on to explain that injuries can derail even the most promising season. Furthermore, sometimes a team suffers from bad luck or just has a bad day on the wrong afternoon in March. Izzo then alluded to the 2016 first round loss to No. 15-seed Middle Tennessee State by one of his best teams. Stuff happens.
Moreover, the level of competition around the country is also unknown. Izzo pointed out that last year at this time everyone had North Carolina penciled into the Final Four. The Tar Heels did not even qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
"I have no idea where probably eight of the top-10 or 12 teams are," Izzo said. "Everybody's got people moving and moving parts and this guy in and that guy out."
Despite all of the positive signs of the tight-knit nature of his team in early October. Izzo is interested in how his own team will evolve as the season plays out. Sometimes the pieces ultimately fit, and sometimes they do not, especially with a roster full of highly ranked players.
"Competition is good, but it's really good in the summer and the fall," Izzo explained. "We'll see how it gets in the winter. You know, when parents change, when players change, I mean, all that that's why I think it's so important that the players are so involved with each other. It's a very close-knit team."
Izzo went on to elaborate that with such a talented group of freshmen, it is important for them to have realistic expectations. He said that he will often show the incoming players and their family the freshman stats of former Spartan legends such as Jason Richardson and Draymond Green for comparison.
"Parents want instant gratification more than players," Izzo said. "I have to sell that winning brings personal success. Personal success doesn’t always bring winning."
Michigan State often doesn't feature freshman with the monster stats of schools that have recently fielded teams stocked with one-and-done players. But Michigan State has more Final Four banners in the last 15 years than many of those other programs.
Coach Izzo is also concerned about keeping away the "double-Ds."
"There are more dirtbags and there are more distractions," he explained. "There are a lot more. There are more than there were last year. There's a lot more than the year before and a ton more than a year before that. And (keeping those away) is my number one goal."
Make no mistake. Coach Izzo and his players very much believe that this could be their year. Bringing another national title to East Lansing is something that he wants very, very badly, and he knows that he is on the clock.
"I mean, getting near that stage in my career where you don't have a million chances left," Izzo said.
Coach Izzo overall feelings on the 2023-2024 season from our view here in early October can be summed up as follows.
"Let us stay focused the best we can," Izzo said. "I think I've got a staff that believes in it. I think I've got some veteran players that believe in it. And their job is to bring me around.
"I hope I can bring this place that I love so much what we deserve, and make people feel good and smile. That is a pretty neat feeling. Taking care of yourself is one thing, taking care of a lot of people or helping make their day better, that's another thing. Very seldom do people get a chance to do that. So, I have a chance. I'm going to work morning, noon and night to see if I can bring that dream a reality ... But we've got a long, long, long, long, long ways to go."
