Michigan State Basketball: Tom Izzo’s Coaching Masterpiece

I have written about this topic on Spartan Avenue several times: I should never doubt Tom Izzo again. As if I needed any more proof, the run that Izzo currently has this team on may be his best work since taking over the Spartans program in 1995. These Spartans have been compared to the 2006-07 Drew Neitzel-led Spartans but I feel it has a little more talent, although it has not always showed it, and also has an opportunity to continue the postseason run and do some special things.

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As with most Tom Izzo teams, the ingredients for success in having the Spartans playing their best basketball this time of year were put in to place. The standard Izzo ingredients include a tough early non-conference schedule, continuous lineup/rotation tweaks, never too much praise but a never give up attitude to the media and hard-nosed work to improve his players throughout the course of the year.

As a Spartan fan, the early season schedule is always fun and something to get excited for, although the results do not always turn out how you want them to but it’s done for a purpose and this year was no different.

Early on, MSU faced Duke, Kansas and traveled to Notre Dame to take on a tough Irish team. Even if the Spartans do not win these games, as was the case this year, it gives them the opportunity early on to experience exactly what it is like to play top end talent. This comes in clutch during a March run; in the NCAA Tournament, you’re not going to play 16 seeds each round, you’re going to have to put together multiple wins against quality opponents.

Sometimes it’s difficult to watch early in the year and even into Big Ten play. Izzo will never stop tweaking his lineup and rotation until he gets exactly what he wants from it. As the lineups change, there is often a disconnect as guys get used to playing with each other which can often bring about a brand of basketball that is not pleasant to watch.

Once that rotation is found, however, Izzo is able to rotate players in and out like an artist. Travis Trice, Bryn Forbes and Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn have all spent time in the starting lineup as well as coming off the bench.

It was not until Tum Tum took over the starting point guard position, allowing Trice to come off the bench and save energy, that the Spartans began to take off as a team. Most coaches would not tinker as much and take the risks of costing wins during the season that Coach Izzo does. He knows exactly what it takes to hang banners and he will not stop until what he gets exactly what he wants from his team is on the floor.

The run that Izzo currently has this team on may be his best work since taking over the Spartans program in 1995.

The message is always the same from coach Izzo. The highs are never too high and the lows are never inescapable. He has the uncanny ability of keeping his guys grounded after a big win letting them know there is more to do, while being able to keep them fighting after tough losses.

Both situations happened multiple times this year. MSU had bad losses like Texas Southern at home, Minnesota and Illinois also at the Breslin Center and on the road against Nebraska. Any of these losses, and even a few more that could have made this list, could have derailed the season. The players could have quit and the amazing streak of 18 consecutive NCAA tournaments would have died.

Coach Izzo would not allow his players to quit, he kept pushing in various ways, imploring them to play harder and maximizing their effort to keep the streak alive. This ability to keep his team from quitting has put them in the position they are in now: a win away from the Elite Eight.

On the flip side, there were wins this season that Izzo allowed the team to enjoy but let the players know there was still much more work to be done and they were far from a perfect team. Great wins against Ohio State, two against Michigan and Indiana, at Iowa and at Illinois could have allowed this team to become complacent. The Spartans are not like last year’s team in that it could win on talent alone, they have to keep pushing and can never rest. Coach Izzo, being the master psychologist that he is, never allowed them to be satisfied.

Mar 22, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo talks with Michigan State Spartans guard Travis Trice (20) during the first half against the Virginia Cavaliers in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Early and in the middle of the season, if I were to tell Spartan fans that Bryn Forbes would be performing on the defensive end, Marvin Clark would be a spark plug off the bench and Matt Costello would be a defensive stopper that made clutch baskets when needed, the fan base would look at me like I was crazy and tell me to put down the green Kool-Aid.

This is exactly what has happened and it is the crucial piece as to why MSU is playing as well as they are. The three amigos of Trice, Valentine and Dawson will always be the key pieces for the success of this team.  However, if the improvement of these role players never happened, the Spartans are not where they are which again should give credit to Izzo and his coaching.

Regardless of what happens in the matchup against Oklahoma tonight, this season can be called nothing but a success. At the start of the season, I felt the ceiling for this team was the Sweet 16. In a much more difficult road than I felt it was going to be, the Spartans are here. They stayed together as a team through the peaks and valleys of this season, kept the NCAA streak alive and have put themselves in a great position to go after another Final Four.

If, and it is a big if, the Spartans win the weekend and go to the Final Four in Indianapolis, this may be Coach Izzo’s greatest coaching feat. There is still a lot of work to do to get to that goal, but I am done betting against him and will continue to enjoy his genius as a coach.