Anyone.
Any time.
Any place.
That's the motto that Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo has lived by for the past couple of decades when it comes to tough non-conference scheduling.
The Spartans have faced teams like Gonzaga, Duke, Kentucky, Baylor, Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, Arizona, and countless others in non-conference play over the years, but Izzo loves the tough scheduling. He feels like it sets his team up for success when the NCAA Tournament rolls around.
That scheduling, however, nearly cost him in the 2023-24 season when the Spartans began ranked in the top five only to lose the opener against James Madison. They played a top-10 Tennessee team in an exhibition before the season, then lost to No. 9 Duke in the Champions Classic, and then fell once again to No. 3 Arizona in a Thanksgiving game.
Michigan State would bounce back with a 24-point win over No. 6 Baylor, but it had a losing recording in the first month of action, forcing the team to play at a high level the rest of the year just to get into the NCAA Tournament.
This year's gauntlet may be just as tough, if not tougher, with a somewhat unproven roster.
Izzo's team will face UConn in an exhibition game and then it'll face Arkansas in a massive November showdown, then 10 days later it'll play Kentucky in the Champions Classic before going to Fort Myers for a Thanksgiving tournament to start with North Carolina. About a week later, the Spartans will be back home facing Duke. That's five legit ranked teams in a little over a month.
How worried should we be?
Given the fact that the only real returning contributors from the 2024-25 Big Ten champion team are Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr, Carson Cooper, and Jaxon Kohler, one would be led to believe that the Spartans could be in some trouble, but the team is actually built to wear opponents down.
How? This team is just as deep as last year's, albeit relatively unproven. Trey Fort brings experience with him as a Samford transfer, Divine Ugochukwu has starting experience as a Miami transfer, Kur Teng got to learn as a backup all 2024-25 season long, Jesse McCulloch is finally going to be healthy with an opportunity to see the floor early, Cam Ward is going to be a stud as a freshman, and Jordan Scott is being overlooked a little too much for my liking.
Michigan State has the pieces, but jumping right into the fire with a UConn exhibition will help them get acclimated to big-time ball, and then going right into a home battle with Arkansas will be a nice test.
I think if Michigan State can take care of a talented Arkansas team, we won't have much to worry about. The Spartans have a strong core, and they just need to grow together.
We saw it happen last season when AJ Hoggard, Tyson Walker, Malik Hall, and Mady Sissoko all left the program, and it didn't take long for the team to gel and become a Big Ten champion. It can happen again, but these guys will need to lean into the big moment and not shy away from it.
Izzo likes his team enough to make this type of schedule, so there's no reason to worry -- yet.