Entering the 2025-26 season, it felt like there was plenty of cautious optimism surrounding Michigan State. Tom Izzo lost three of his top four guards, including a first-round NBA draft pick, to go along with three more players who played meaningful minutes for the Big Ten champs.
To make matters worse, he lost one of his key transfer additions for the season as Kaleb Glenn suffered an injury that will sideline him for the entire year.
The roster had some quality pieces, but there was far too much uncertainty to really put any stock in the Spartans. That’s why the Big Ten media projected the Spartans as the sixth-best team in the conference entering the season, and some “experts” had them listed even lower. A team that lost most of its production from last season and a key transfer with a season-ending injury wasn’t expected to make much noise.
While Izzo is a Hall of Fame coach, not many thought he’d be able to prove doubters wrong with this roster, especially with one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.
However, he’s doing the unthinkable.
Michigan State picked up its seventh win in as many games on Thursday evening against No. 16 North Carolina, its third victory over a ranked opponent this year — tied for the most in college basketball. Not only is Michigan State off to its best start in a decade, but it looks like a top-five team. There are very few weaknesses on this team, and that’s incredible given the roster turnover.
Another aspect that many believed would fall off in 2025-26 was team chemistry. The 2024-25 team was one of the closest that Izzo ever had, and it’s a big reason why it was so successful, but this year’s squad looks to be just as tight. These guys truly all like each other.
And that’s incredible when you consider four key players are brand-new to the program, and two more didn’t have a role on the 2024-25 team as freshmen.
People counted Izzo’s Spartans out before the season just because the roster took a hit, but they seemingly forgot that he’s one of the best coaches to ever do it. And he’s doing the unthinkable in 2025-26 which makes for his best coaching job in years.
Izzo is having a legit national coach of the year-type season so far.