Michigan State coach Tom Izzo will officially be making his 25th straight NCAA tournament appearance this week and that is the longest streak ever for one single coach at one single school.
It’s also the second longest current streak, behind only Kansas. It’s also the longest March Madness streak ever for a Big Ten coach, and it’s tied for the third longest all-time nationally.
Betting Info
The spread here has Michigan State favored -1.5, or -115. There are a number of different options available on the market such as xParlay, a leading sports handicapping community and software that help sports bettors make informed decisions. MSU is available on the money line at -135.
ESPN Matchup Predictor gives Michigan State a 59.6% to win, with USC obviously backed at 40.4%.
Tip-Off
Friday, March 17, 2022, 12:15 PM EST (CBS) Spartans (seeded seventh) vs Trojans (seeded tenth)
Big Ten Tournament/March Madness Talk: ESPN Radio Iowa, KGYM Boiler Upload Podcast
If you’re trying to gauge how Michigan State will do this March Madness, their Big Ten Tournament results is not the best predictor. Their outcomes in the conference tourney don’t seem to really sync up too often with how they do in the Big Dance.
Making that even more interesting is how they seem to be all-or-nothing, boom-or-bust in the conference tournament.
This year was certainly nothing/bust, as they crashed out after just one game, despite holding a double bye as a #4 seed in the competition.
They fell to #13 seed Ohio State, and looked pretty bad in doing so.
“I said to our media for three weeks that I didn’t think our defense has been very good and it would get you in a tournament, so I guess my experience kind of gave the answer,” Izzo said in the postgame press conference.
“It’s a shame, too, because these three guys (Tyson Walker, Jaden Atkins and Joey Hauser) I thought played pretty hard, not always made shots.”
Tom Izzo is often branded “Mr. March” due to his ability to often reach the Final Four (or at least the sweet sixteen in years that he doesn’t lead Michigan State to the tourney’s final weekend). He also has the most B1G tourney titles of anybody with six (in 1999, 2000, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019).
You’ve seen the t-shirts “January. February. Izzo.”
They also made the B1G Tourney final game but fell to Wisconsin in 2015. In addition to those seven B1G title game appearances, Michigan St. has also reached the semis another additional seven times, in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2018 and this past year.
Sparty has reached or qualified for the quarterfinals in almost every year of the conference tournament’s existence.
So now let’s look at Tom Izzo’s resume in the big dance. He’s led Michigan State to Final Fours in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2019.
He’s also led #GoGreen to the Elite 8, in the additional years of 2003 and 14.
This edition really does seem like the kind of Michigan State team that we’ve gotten used to seeing- not too impressive, really, until we get to the postseason. No one expects them to do much here, and we’ll see what happens in their opening match-up, one that’s deeply rooted in Greek history: Trojans-Spartans.
After that, it will be a long and bumpy road if they’re going to get to Houston.
They own the Big Ten’s most recent national championship, but that was way back in 2000, and while they have achieved a lot in March in recent years, April has been the cruelest month (T.S. Eliot sky-point) to Michigan State this decade.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.