A certain former Tom Izzo assistant coach is one win away from being college basketball's best story this season.
Mark Montgomery, Detroit Mercy's current head coach, was at Michigan State just a few years ago, but now he's on the verge of leading the Titans to their first NCAA Tournament since the 2011-12 season when Ray McCallum was still head coach.
While that's impressive especially since he just took over the program last season, it becomes even more eye-popping when you consider that he took over a team that had just gone 1-31. That's right, Montgomery has turned the program from one of college basketball's laughingstocks into a team that could make the field of 68.
On Tuesday night, Montgomery and his Detroit Mercy Titans will face Wright State in the Horizon League title game and if the Titans win, it'll complete the best turnaround in college hoops.
What Michigan has done under Dusty May since that eight-win season has been impressive, but taking a one-win team to the NCAA Tournament in just two years would be insane.
Plus, he's already won the most single-season games at Detroit since 2012-13 when the Titans won 20 in back-to-back seasons. If he can lead the Titans to the title on Tuesday night, he'll secure his 18th win of the season with a chance to get 19 and 20 in shocking fashion -- a-la Greg Kampe and Oakland -- in the NCAA Tournament.
It's been fun to watch this run, and Michigan State fans will be rooting heavily for the Titans on Tuesday, even if that sets up a potential first-round matchup with the Spartans.
Mark Montgomery could draw Michigan State
The best story in college basketball could get even better if his team earns the 15 seed in Michigan State's region where the Spartans are the 2 seed or if the Titans get the 14 seed where the Spartans are a 3. Either way, there would be so many headlines to write.
There's a chance that Michigan State could see Tre Holloman or Gehrig Normand in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, and now you can throw Montgomery into that possibility.
While that would be quite the storyline, it would have every Michigan State fan sweating it out until the clock hits zero. Montgomery would be the best possible matchup out of the three.
If you want to see Montgomery get a chance to lead Detroit to its first NCAA Tournament in almost 15 years, tune into ESPN at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.