It’s been a roller-coaster of a month for Tom Izzo. Michigan State’s legendary head coach watched two of his players go through the NBA draft process and both announced their withdrawals on the last day of the deadline, stressing out the fanbase for about 72 hours. This came just one week after Izzo lost his mother, Dorothy, at the age of 100 — six days after her 100th birthday.
It’s safe to say that it’s been an emotional time for the head coach.
Now that he’s had time to process his loss of a mother who led a full, happy life, Izzo can now look ahead to the 2026-27 season and maybe win No. 2 for her. That would be a storybook ending to a coaching career — although I do believe he still has a few more left in him.
Getting Jeremy Fears back likely makes Michigan State a top-five team in college basketball and Izzo is well aware of what the expectations are going to be.
Izzo thinks he has a team capable of achieving the lofty goals that the fanbase has set for it. He gave a quick description of the 2026-27 roster that has Michigan State fans thinking national title already.
Tom Izzo talks about next year not being his most talented roster, but one of his more complete rosters pic.twitter.com/NGYnbRubHq
— Spartans Sports Coverage (@michstsquad) May 29, 2026
This is a classic Izzo quote where he knows what he wants to say but he has to temper expectations a bit, so he starts off with “not the most talented roster I’ve ever had” but it’s one of his more complete ones, according to the Hall of Fame coach himself.
College basketball’s most talented rosters don’t always win, but the more complete teams seem to always be playing for national titles. Izzo believes he has a team capable of that.
Tom Izzo is downplaying the 2026-27 MSU team’s talent
Hearing Izzo downplay the talent on his team is one of his oldest moves but he’s not fooling anyone this time.
The Spartans have two of the top 25 returning players in college basketbll, according to Field of 68. They also have a top-five recruiting class coming in with two of his signees representing Team USA’s U18 squad at the FIBA AmeriCup next week. That’s not enough? Well, they return two rising stars from the 2025 class, a sharpshooting junior guard, a transfer coming off a season-long injury, and a redshirt sophomore big man who can shoot the three but needs to improve defensively.
Obviously this is a complete team with a deep backcourt, wings who can shoot, and an athletic frontcourt with size. It’s also a very talented team.
Don’t let Izzo fool you, he has a national title contender on his hands.
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