Michigan State Basketball: Reflecting on 2021-22 regular season

The 2021-22 Michigan State basketball regular season was a roller-coaster, so let’s look back and reflect on it. What’d we learn?

Michigan State concluded its regular season with a 20-11 record and a disappointing 11-9 mark in conference play (which left them with the seventh seed heading into the league’s annual March tournament). They raced out to an impressive 14-2 start (5-0 in the Big Ten dating back to Jan. 12) halfway through the current year before falling apart.

After escaping with a narrow win against Minnesota at home, the Spartans were defeated by Northwestern and Illinois by a combined three points, which was devastating. A blowout loss to Rutgers in early February completely crushed their confidence and was the beginning of the end — a terrible 3-7 finish down the stretch that erased any hopes they had of capturing another Big Ten title.

Granted, there are some quality wins on Michigan State’s NCAA tournament resume including wins against UConn, Wisconsin (on the road), and Purdue but it’s impossible to feel satisfied with where the Spartans stand at the moment because they made an excellent push to achieve a national ranking of 10 only to combust when the stakes were so high.

Usually, Tom Izzo’s teams grow stronger as the year goes along, this year’s team faded, unfortunately. Let’s examine what went wrong:

• Plagued by inconsistency — The big men disappeared during stretches. The wings struggled to score when games were on the line and the point guards weren’t spectacular.
• Rotation uncertainty — Michigan State mixed up their lineups because so many of their key pieces failed to excel. Coach Izzo will need to hit the transfer portal this offseason to locate some difference makers,
• Sorely missing a go-to guy — There were far too many instances where Michigan State looked stagnant on offense and couldn’t sink a shot to pull away from an opponent. Through the first half of the season, this wasn’t a glaring issue, due to the fact that everyone was playing their roles so well and contributing to the team’s success. Then the offensive sets turned into players settling for contested mid-range jumpers as the shot clock neared zero. They looked lost as a unit. The void of a star such as Cassius Winston or Denzel Valentine who can get you a bucket at any moment was felt. The coaching staff must hit the recruiting trail aggressively in the spring and summer months to come and target “college free agency” too in order to bring in some alpha dogs.
• Lack of leadership — The team was out-hustled over and over again and this roster is absent of an on-court presence who holds their teammates accountable vocally. Seeing the Spartans lose rebounding battles and not be the toughest team on the court stung the fan base.
• Freshmen hitting the proverbial wall — Max Christie topped the club in minutes per game (at 31.1) and that usage wore him down. His legs appeared heavy late in the season. Once he adds more muscle to his frame, he’ll evolve into a monster. Jaden Akins also was more productive during the early portions of MSU’s schedule but wasn’t able to make as much of an impact in late January and February. We didn’t see enough of Pierre Brooks to know what he’s truly capable of yet he’s an underclassman who needs to develop his body and take his game to new heights in the 2022-2023 season.

Luckily for Michigan State, they still have opportunities in front of them to capitalize on, starting Thursday when they begin the Big Ten Tournament and then during NCAA Tournament play following their trip down to Indianapolis.