Michigan State basketball in elite company in terms of recruiting, winning

Over the years, Michigan State basketball has had some incredible runs.

Tom Izzo has led the program the eight Final Fours, 10 Big Ten regular-season titles, six Big Ten Tournament titles, and a national championship. He has done all of this while recruiting at a high level but not exactly landing the numerous one-and-dones like Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky have.

Long story short: Izzo just wins.

A recent graphic made its rounds on social media detailing the correlation between wins and recruiting and Michigan State was in elite company.

As you can see, teams like Duke, Kansas, Arizona, North Carolina, and Kentucky all recruit the best in college basketball and are rewarded with wins because of it -- oh, and they've all had great coaching. Other teams like Gonzaga, Villanova, Virginia, and Purdue recruit at a high level, but win a ton. And then Houston, San Diego, and St. Mary's recruit at an average level, but win the most (elite with lesser talent category).

Michigan State is just one step below that first group along with Oregon.

The Spartans have fallen on some hard times in recent years which is why they're not in that elite with elite talent group, but if they hadn't slipped up from 2020-24, they would be with Duke, Kansas, Arizona, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Being mentioned with that group is a great sign and it shows that Michigan State is a blue blood.

It's time for Izzo to get back to his winning ways because it's clear that he's recruiting at an elite level. He just needs to have it translate to the court again.