EAST LANSING – Tom Izzo knows where Michigan State fans want their basketball team to finish the upcoming season. He heard about it throughout the summer, heard about it again at the Izzone Campout, and expects to hear plenty more about it between now and March.
The 2027 Final Four will be played in Detroit, and with a highly regarded Michigan State team returning considerable experience, the prospect of reaching college basketball’s biggest stage without leaving the state has already captured the imagination of Spartan Nation.
Izzo isn’t discouraging those ambitions. He believes his team has the personnel to compete for a Big Ten championship and potentially make a deep NCAA Tournament run.
But his assessment during Michigan State’s basketball media day revealed a coach whose confidence in his roster is accompanied by a considerable list of questions he intends to answer over the next several weeks.
He believes this could be one of his deepest teams. He sees significant improvements from several returning players, more perimeter shooting, greater positional flexibility, and the potential to play different styles depending on the opponent.
He also sees a team that isn’t necessarily overflowing with elite individual talent, freshmen still adjusting to college basketball, and several veterans who must take another significant step before Michigan State can become the championship contender its preseason ranking suggests.
Perhaps most importantly, he sees a team whose greatest advantage may be the familiarity its players have with one another at a time when much of college basketball is undergoing wholesale roster reconstruction.
Depth could change everything
The most significant takeaway from Izzo's assessment was his confidence in Michigan State's depth and the possibilities it creates.
After injuries depleted the Spartans' backcourt late last season and left Jeremy Fears Jr. carrying an enormous workload, Izzo believes he can comfortably use 10 or 11 players this year without sacrificing much in the way of production.
That should allow Michigan State to play faster, apply more defensive pressure, and keep its most important players fresher as the season progresses.
Izzo acknowledged that the roster might not have the high-end individual talent of some of his previous teams, particularly those featuring future NBA Draft selections. But he sees less separation between his starters and reserves, which has already made practices unusually competitive.
Rather than a clearly established first team dominating its backups, Izzo described two groups capable of challenging one another on a daily basis.
Those competitive practices should become...
