Michigan State Basketball: Final grades for the 2021-22 season

Tom Izzo: B-

Tom Izzo has made the NCAA tournament for 24 straight years. He has made it to eight Final Fours and two championship games, winning one of them. However, his last few seasons have been mediocre.

Since Cassius Winston left, Izzo has not looked like the same coach. He has not gotten the most out of his players like he once did. The juniors and seniors are proof of this. Malik Hall and Gabe Brown could be stars on other teams, just look what Foster Loyer was able to accomplish at Davidson this year (albeit in an easier conference).

Izzo has not had the leader on the court he is accustomed to these past two seasons. With this in mind, Izzo has not stepped up and become this team’s leader. Instead, he is pushing for one of the guys to step up but it hasn’t happened. This season could have gone differently if Izzo would have become the leader and found this team an identity they could get behind. Instead, he continued to coach like he did in the 2000s but times have changed and this team needed him to tweak what he has done before and get the most out of these players.

This team had a roller coaster of a season but has a positive look for next season. Although they are losing Brown, Bingham, and Joey Hauser (potentially) they have people who should be able to take a step up. They have Hall, Julius Marble, and Jaden Akins who are all capable of taking those spots. Michigan State might not even lose those players as they all were granted an extra year due to COVID.

Along with this, the Spartans are getting a promising point guard in Tre Holloway and another big man in Jaxon Koehler. The Spartans can be at the top of the Big Ten next year if some of these players take the needed steps forward.

Get excited about the 2022-23 season because it will be much better than what we’ve seen over the past two years.