To end the early slate of the first day of the NCAA Tournament, Michigan State and Arkansas were handing simultaneous beatdowns to North Dakota State and Hawaii. The Spartans handled their business in Buffalo, 92-67, while the Razorbacks rolled 97-78 in Portland, and with the wins, Tom Izzo and John Calipari joined an exclusive club with their 60th NCAA Tournament victory.
Izzo and Calipari joined Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Dean Smith, and Jim Boeheim in the 60-win club. Bill Self could join the fray this March, but it would take a long run as he enters the tournament with 56 wins in the big dance.
Tom Izzo and John Calipari join the list of just 6 coaches to have 60+ Tournament wins 💪 pic.twitter.com/nwfIWsXKj2
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) March 19, 2026
Tom Izzo joins legendary 60-win club with victory over North Dakota State
While reaching 60 March Madness wins is monumental for the 71-year-old head coach of the Spartans, what Michigan State fans are desperate for Izzo to add to is his Final Four appearances. The one-time national champion has made the fifth-most Final Fours in history with eight trips, trailing only Roy Williams, Dean Smith, John Wooden, and Coach K.
The difficulty this year is the legendary group of coaches who are packed into the East Region with Izzo’s Spartans. Aside from the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Duke, and Jon Scheyer, who made his first Final Four last year, the East Region contains Dan Hurley, Self, Rick Pitino, and Mick Cronin. That group of five coaches has 15 Final Four trips between them, if you could Pitino’s two vacated trips from his time at Louisville.
Michigan State looked excellent in its first-round win, much better than sixth-seeded Louisville, which narrowly escaped an upset scare against USF to reach a Round of 32 matchup with the Spartans. Michigan State is a betting favorite to get Izzo’s 61st win on Saturday, especially with Louisville not expected to get its star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. back from injury.
As for the race with Calpari, the Razorbacks will take on High Point, which upset fifth-seeded Wisconsin, on Saturday. Arkansas has become a trendy pick to surprise top-seeded Florida in the South Region after making a run to the SEC Title in Nashville last week, Calipari’s first conference championship since 2018.