1. Tom Izzo gets his second national title
Being a Hall of Fame head coach can’t be easy. Tom Izzo has high expectations he constantly needs to live up to and if he falls short, people are so quick to say the game has passed him by — all you need to do is check social media receipts from last year after the Syracuse loss.
People have called for him to retire or to change his ways completely and he has done the latter, to a degree, as he has adjusted his style to fit today’s game.
Izzo’s constant adjustments have led to a second straight 30-win season and another Big Ten title as well as his eighth Final Four appearance. He’s hoping for better results this time around. He has admitted that he needs national title No. 2 to validate his career — at least to himself.
Fortunately, he has a mentally tough team that can get him that second national title.
You can just tell his mindset heading into this Final Four is different. He’s not content with just getting there, but he wants to figure out what to do different to make sure he finally wins a third weekend again for the first time since 2000.
Izzo and Co. will get the job done on Monday night, beating Tony Bennett and Virginia 73-69 to win the national title and head back home to East Lansing with some coveted hardware.