This year’s Michigan State Spartans team are a throwback of sorts to the types of teams that Tom Izzo had in the mid-to-late 2000s to early 2010s. There’s not as much talent in East Lansing as we’re used to usually seeing. Instead we have a starting five that, although they lack McDonald’s All-Americans and Jordan Brand Classic guys, possess athleticism, toughness and an affinity for playing defense and rebounding.
The second seeded Spartans will be a tough matchup for the sixth seeded Ole Miss Rebels, due to all the factors we just stated above.
March Madness Sweet 16 FYIs
Michigan State Spartans vs Ole Miss Rebels
Friday, March 28, 2025, 7:09PM EST, CBS
State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
Michigan State Spartans Preview
We’re not kidding about the MSU defense. Flashback to January 25, when Rutgers had their “circle the date on the calendar” quasi-home game at Madison Square Garden against Michigan State. The Spartans won 81-74, as they limited Ace Bailey to 4-17 shooting.
As was chronicled by RG, Bailey is as dominant an individual player as there is in college basketball. He’s going to go second or third overall in this June’s NBA Draft, and although he got his points (18), he had to do it by getting to the line, and converting free throws.
State just prohibited Bailey from getting good looks at the basket, and when he did, he had Michigan State Spartans defenders in his face pressuring him.
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While defense is the calling card of this MSU team, another major reason for their success is their balanced attack on offense. Their scoring comes from several different sources, it’s not concentrated.
Not to mention the fact that they aren’t live and die by the three-ball.
Jaden Akins, Jase Richardson, Jaxson Kohler, Coen Carr and company consistently get downhill when they need to.
That’s critical cause in single elimination tournaments like this, you have a counter to an opponent that could be riding the momentum of ultra-hot shooting from distance.
Ole Miss Rebels Preview
The Rebels are a good dark horse team because no one really has them on their radar right now. However, they were the more impressive of the two SEC teams in Milwaukee this past weekend (when the SEC has what feels 75 teams in the tournament, yes, you do get more than one per tournament location).
Ole Miss is led by Chris Beard, who is not some feel good redemption story.
He’s more an example of the Bobby Petrino Rule– no matter what you have, or maybe what people may think you may have, if you can win games/generate money for the university, you will get another chance.
And Beard, despite what kind of person he may or may not be, is winning games. They absolutely obliterated #3 seed Iowa State, in the very last game of March Madness’ opening weekend (The Cyclones are starting to become a program that just doesn’t show up when it counts in March).
That was an impressive showing, a far better performance than their opener on Friday afternoon. Ole Miss was routing North Carolina for most of the game, but then the Tar Heels came roaring back and almost pulled off the upset.
And that was not a good Tar Heels team by the way, as they really didn’t deserve to be in the field.
Although the way they handled San Diego St. so emphatically, in the play-in game, kind of justified their inclusion in the bracket. Still when you’re a blue blood, you’re going to get advantages that other programs don’t.
For Beard and Ole Miss, Friday night is a chance to make a name for themselves. They can show that they belong in the same tier at the Michigan State Spartans. After all, Ole Miss has no basketball history.
This is just their second ever second weekend of the NCAA Tournament appearance, and they have only six tourney wins in their entire history.
“Everybody wants respect for their program. And that’s what I want, for them to say every time they play ya, you got your work cut out for you,” Izzo said.
“We’ve done it the right way, and played the toughest schedule the past 15 years, and I think the people that matter know, you got to have that tradition,” Izzo said.
Prediction: Michigan State Spartans 77, Ole Miss 65
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor 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 currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.