Michigan State basketball battling expectations ahead of 2019-20 season

For the first time in program history, Michigan State basketball will open the season as the highest-ranked team in the nation. It’s a precarious distinction, for a team that’s always been the underdog, even at its highest moments.

Throughout the tenure of Tom Izzo as the coach of the Michigan State basketball program, it’s seemed as if the Spartans have fed off the doubts of others.

In the 2009-2010 season, the Spartans made it to the Final Four as a 5-seed. In the 2014-2015 campaign, the Spartans did the same as a 7-seed, beating the likes of Virginia, Oklahoma, and Louisville on their way to the penultimate podium. And in the NCAA tournament, in 2019, with the nation riding on Zion Williamson’s wave of excitement, the Spartans put an end to his tournament career. A walk-on made the shot that mattered, on a stage filled with McDonald’s All-Americans.

Conversely, whenever Michigan State basketball has earned the respect of the nation, they seem to disappoint. In 2017, after the return of Miles Bridges for his sophomore season, and after the signing of Jaren Jackson Jr., the Spartans were ranked as the No. 2 team on the preseason AP poll, and received No. 1 hype in some corners. Despite this, they would lose in Round 2 of the tournament, to an upstart Syracuse squad.

Most recently, the Spartans won over the nation as the championship favorites after their monumental win over the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight of the 2018-2019 tournament. They were the favorites to take home the crown out of the remaining four teams, but instead, they’d go home early and empty-handed, after a suffocating loss at the hands of Chris Beard’s Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Every year, Michigan State basketball extends a tumultuous relationship with expectations. Rarely have the expectations and the ensuing reality been confluent with one another. And in 2019, the Spartans will look to change that perception. But the fight ahead is as daunting as it’s ever been.

The Spartans are ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation on AP’s preseason poll, for the first time in school history. They bring back Hall of Fame-to-be coach Tom Izzo for his 25th season, as well as reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and preseason Player of the Year Cassius Winston. Bolstering the ranks beside this extraordinary duo is an impressive cast that consists of a smart, physical post presence in Xavier Tillman, an ascending, athletic scoring type in Aaron Henry, and other young, emerging players who are sure to be coached up by Izzo.

The presence of Joshua Langford undoubtedly contributed to Michigan State’s favorable preseason reviews, and now that he’s out until January at the earliest, the Spartans’ offensive attack will lose some teeth. But while the firepower goes away, the expectations will not. Izzo is one of the greatest coaches of all-time. Winston might be the smartest player he’s ever had. In the eyes of the nation, Izzo has to find a way to win. It’s what he’s made a living out of, after all.

With the injuries piling up, some of the matchups on the schedule look more challenging than previously thought. Michigan State basketball kicks off the season against No. 2 Kentucky on Tuesday, and they face off against Duke again on December 4, in what will be a heavily-anticipated rematch of last year’s Elite Eight showdown.

The matchups cast a looming shadow, but don’t be fooled; Michigan State’s greatest opponent in 2019 is the clashing expectations that they face. The expectation that they will be the standard in college basketball, and the expectation that they will shrink at the notion of a mountain to climb.

For Michigan State basketball, living up to high expectations has never been easy, but defying the doubters has become an annual affair. With Langford injured and doubts brewing in the darkest corners of the nation once again, it’s up to Izzo and the Michigan State squad to decide what noise they listen to. Because after all, expectations don’t constitute reality. Expectations don’t determine fate. For the Spartans, fate rests in their own hands.

What will they make of it?