The Michigan State men's basketball program and head coach Tom Izzo have been in this position before. The Spartans have received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time under Izzo’s leadership and the fifth time in program history.
In those other four instances of MSU being seeded this way, the Spartans made the Final Four three times, including the 1979 national title team that was led by Magic Johnson.
Don’t expect Izzo to bring up those examples to his team too much ahead the game against No. 15 Bryant, though. Expect him to talk about the one instance he didn’t make it far — the 2016 loss to 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee State in the first round.
“Yeah, I might talk about that, because I’m a white-elephant-in-the-room guy,” Izzo said Tuesday, exactly nine years from the day of the upset. “Whenever there’s a white elephant in the room, I talk about it. Some people hide and put their head in the sand like an ostrich.”
Even the 2019 Final Four team that was a No. 2 seed had trouble with its No. 15 seed, Bradley. Back in that game, MSU trailed by five points early in the second half.
“Do I bring up the (loss to MTSU)?” Izzo asked rhetorically. “Hell yes. First night, first thing I talked about is ‘the advantage you have with your coach, he’s done it all. He’s gone to a Final Four as a seven-seed, which isn’t normal, and he’s been beaten in a (two-seed versus 15 seed) game.’
“I’ve lost in the first weekend as a one-seed and I learned from it, and I try to tell (my players) that. So you’re gonna have to trust me with what I’m telling you, because you aren’t gonna be able to go through it, and if you do go through it, it’s because you hung up your shoes. We’re done.
“I think (the prep) has been pretty good. I think our team understands it. I mean, I don’t sit there and worry about it every day, I know what can happen. In that game against Middle Tennessee we were the best defensive (team) in the country. They shot (58%) or something from the three, (but) we shot in the 50s (overall) and lost. That wouldn’t happen to Michigan State one out of a hundred times, but it did, and give them credit. They beat us, and so I tell them nothing’s given, everything’s earned.”
The lower seeds in the NCAA Tournament have been becoming less and less of a pushover by the year, as well. Three No. 2 seeds have lost to No. 15 seeds in the last four tournaments. Izzo doesn’t anticipate this Bryant team to bow down to his Spartans, either.
“I’ve been very impressed with the film I watched on them and I watched how they played St. Johns early in the year,” Izzo said about the Bulldogs. “They’re big. Their guards are big: they’re 6-6, 6-6, 6-8, 6-8, 6-11 (height in the starting lineup). Very experienced, older team, fifth- and sixth-year guys, even, and very well-coached.”
Bryant lost that game Izzo referenced to St. John’s 99-77 on Dec. 11. That score is slightly deceiving, though, as the Bulldogs were within just four points of the Red Storm at halftime.
“(Bryant head coach Phil Martelli Jr.) has won 23 games (this year), they’re 14-2 in their league,” Izzo said. “It is hard to determine, different leagues, what you play and who you are. But this is a very fast-tempo team. At least 80 points a game 20 times this year, so they can score it. They’ve got a couple guys who can really shoot it.
“I said about size, but the (Rafael) Pinzon kid is as good a shooter (as anybody). He’s averaging 18 (points), he’s shooting 39 perecent from the three.
“And (Earl) Timberlake was their tournament MVP. They’ve got an (America East) regular season MVP, newcomer MVP (with him). But Timberlake is kind of like (Wisconsin’s John) Tonje — he’s a little bigger; 6-6, 225 (pounds), but he handles the ball. He plays kind of point forward, he can post up, he can play on the perimeter. He is a very good player.”
Bryant also has two more players averaging at least 10 points per game in Barry Evans and Connor Withers.
“Withers is a phenomenal shooter and Evans is a problem, because he’s a 6-8 four-man who really plays like a two-guard and he can handle it, he can pass it, he can shoot it, and that’s where the mismatch and matchup problems come to light,” Izzo said.
All four of the Bulldogs’ top scorers are upperclassmen, with Timberlake and Withers being in their fifth and sixth years of college basketball, respectively.
Beyond that, Bryant is really a team that generally goes seven or eight guys deep. That could give MSU an advantage in terms of depth, but that may not always apply when the other team is full of guys that will be playing their hearts out.
Regardless, there is no tangible reason for Michigan State to worry too much about the America East Champions. Izzo said he has incorporated some things regarding No. 7 Marquette and No. 10 New Mexico — MSU’s two potential second round opponents — into his practices, but also added that all of those additions were things that were applicable to Bryant, as well.
“Don’t read into it,” Izzo said. “Don’t think I’m overlooking anybody, and if you do, then you don’t know what I’ve done for 25 years.”
Michigan State and Izzo’s first round matchup with Bryant is set to tip off at 10 p.m. EDT on Friday, March 21. The game will be played at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio and will be broadcasted live on TBS.
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