A very generous baker’s dozen (14) years after taking over for Jud Heathcote, Izzo has taken the Spartans to five Final Fours and one National Championship. Just taking a gander at Michigan State’s tournament history should cement Izzo as the premiere March coach in the game today. After his first two seasons ended in three letters (NIT), Izzo and NCAA have been two of East Lansing’s most-uttered four-letter words for 12 consecutive years.
In his first tournament appearance in 1998, Izzo led the four-seed Spartans past neighbors (Eastern Michigan) and intellectual superiors (Princeton) before succumbing to top-seeded and eventual semifinalist UNC. The next season, Izzo reached the first of three straight Final Fours, where he fell to March mainstay Mike Krzyzewski and Duke. During the 2000 Tournament, not even Coach K could save his top-ranked Blue Devils from one of the most unpredictable brackets ever. Only a single one-seed made it out of their region that year — it wasn’t Coach K’s Duke, or Mike Montgomery’s Stanford, or Lute Olson’s Arizona, it was Izzo’s Spartans. Winning every game by double-figures, Izzo won his National Championship after only five years on the job, with the first team comprised of only his recruits.
Izzo’s Spartans have always taken care of business when expected to in the tournament, accumulating a remarkable 23-3 record against lower-seeded teams. Just exactly who those losses came against makes the mark even more impressive. 2001: they were a one-seed and lost to two-seeded Arizona in the Final Four, not exactly a bracket-busting upset. 2004: they were a seven-seed and lost to 10-seed Nevada in the first round by six; Nevada then dismantled two-seed Gonzaga by 19 later that weekend. 2006: they were a six-seed and fell to 11-seed George Mason, who went on to beat overall number one UConn and make the Final Four.
Teams just don’t upset the Spartans in March unless the win is well-deserved and justified with other tournament victories. Lack of preparation, which can result in teams not showing up ready to play or getting out-coached, is the most common cause of upsets that just shouldn’t happen. Izzo always has his teams prepared and always gives them the best shot to win games, which is exactly what you want out of a coach.
Including the 2009 tournament, Izzo-coached squads have an 8-7 record against higher-ranked teams. Something this coach does has his teams actually winning more games than the squads favored to top them. Either the selection committee undervalues Michigan State each and every year, or Izzo routinely outcoaches his most esteemed colleagues. He’s 2-1 against Krzyzewski, 1-0 against Jim Boeheim, 1-0 against Gary Williams, 1-0 against Jim Calhoun, 1-0 against Rick Pitino and 2-0 against Tubby Smith.
If there was one flaw to Izzo’s impeccable March resumé, it would be his track record against one-seeds. Seven of his 11 losses have come at the hands of a one-seed, yet this year he bested two en route to a runner-up finish, including a shocking dismantling of overall number one Louisville. That boosts his record against one-seeds to 3-7, not too shabby considering four of those losses came as a five-seed or lower, meaning the committee didn’t expect the Spartans to make it as far as they did.
Ex-Spartans guard Mateen Cleaves, the 2000 tournament’s MOP, recently told ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd that he always felt he knew more about his opponents than they knew about him. In March Madness, when half of the games played come on only one full day of preparation, efficient and effective scouting and film sessions are integral to a team’s success. Izzo and his staff routinely digest gallons of information and prepare their team without over-preparing, which can be just as detrimental as under-preparing, with a better gameplan than their counterparts’.
For many casual fans and office pool aficionados, college basketball only exists in March, and that’s surely what matters the most for even the biggest diehard fans. Roy Williams and Bill Self had question marks surrounding them until one win in March (actually early April, when the championship game is played) validated their hundreds of November, December, January and February victories. When it matters most, Izzo is the best. If you don’t believe me, just re-read the previous seven paragraphs more carefully. But what about prior to the Month of the Bracket?
Izzo has only won two of the dozen Big Ten Tournaments he’s coached in, most recently in 2000. Since 2000, he hasn’t even coached his team to the finals during Championship Week. In the regular season, Izzo has coached five Big Ten regular season champions but, before this year, had gone seven seasons without adding to that total. His failure to attain regular season supremacy in the nation’s fourth-best conference shows that the more you see of Izzo, the better chance you have to best his teams, which could be a problem, because after this run has shed the light on his March dominance, we’ll be seeing a lot of him.
The man is easily the best coach in March, but fails to rise above the upper echelon in the prior months. If there was a college basketball stock market, it might be best to sell Izzo now, or else you’ll be stuck with the equivalent of pumpkins in November, an item not exactly at its peak.