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Michigan State Basketball: Tom Izzo’s ability to adapt benefitting Spartans

By Stephen Robb

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 06: Tom Izzo the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans gives instructions to his team against the Kansas Jayhwaks during the State Farm Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on November 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 06: Tom Izzo the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans gives instructions to his team against the Kansas Jayhwaks during the State Farm Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on November 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State basketball shocked the world last Sunday by beating Michigan at Crisler Arena. Is this team destined for a better finish than the 2018 team?

Michigan State won 30 games a season ago and had one of the most talented rosters in the Big Ten, but it still dropped games against Michigan and ultimately lost to Syracuse in the second round. It was an improvement from a 2017 team that only won 20 games and lost to Kansas, though.

But it’s been a strange un-Tom Izzo type of three-year run in the tournament, losing in the first round to Middle Tennessee State team in 2016 to kick off the drought.

Spartan fans have grown accustomed to deep runs in the tournament and Final Four appearances. However, this recent three-year run has led to a reinvention of head coach Tom Izzo that was apparent last Sunday. Rico Beard in his Spartan Beat Podcast mentioned how Izzo was using more ball screens and he learned this from conversations with Golden State coach Steve Kerr.

CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander wrote about how Izzo reached out to the Warriors through his relationship with Draymond Green. He wrote that “Izzo wondered aloud to Kerr if a rentable emulation was possible for college players.”

Basically, could the Spartans be like the Warriors of college basketball?

While that is unrealistic with college players going pro early, Izzo was able to take what he learned and that has made a difference this season. The Spartans have more ball movement and come off their screens well as the Warriors do.

Izzo has done things differently this season. When Michigan went on a run in the second half and momentum quickly shifted, he called a timeout. Something he would not have done in the past. He is a legendary head coach and yet this season could be his best. Why? He is doing what so few coaches do, change the way they do things.

dark. Next. MSU basketball: Game-by-game predictions for February

Izzo is proving why he is one of the best coaches in college basketball and this Michigan State squad could make a deep run in the tournament because of that.

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