The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Izzo’s Spartans still shoring up NCAA resume
RALEIGH, N.C. » Michigan State and Tom Izzo have repeatedly made March the Spartans’ month with strong finishes and Final Four runs. The Spartans are having a tougher time locking down their NCAA Tournament spot and building late-season momentum this time around.
Michigan State (17-11, 9-6 Big Ten) has won five of seven but likely still has work ahead to ensure a Big Ten-record 20th straight NCAA trip.
“I just plan on us figuring out a way,” Izzo said this week. “If I’m talking about it, there’s five other Big Ten teams talking about it, there’s four or five ACC teams, there’s three or four SEC teams. I mean, there are so many teams that are 6-8 to 8-6 around the country that everybody’s in the same boat.”
The Spartans — with seven Final Fours under Izzo, most recently in 2015 — started with a No. 12 preseason ranking in the Top 25 despite significant personnel losses that included national player of the year Denzel Valentine. But they fell out before December while playing a crushing schedule that included losses to Arizona, Kentucky, Baylor in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament and Duke.
Michigan State also lost twice to 14th-ranked Big Ten leader Purdue, and lost at home in December to a Northeastern team that sits at No. 131 in the RPI.
Michigan State is No. 43 in the RPI and No. 52 in KenPom rankings after Thursday’s win against Nebraska. The Spartans were slotted as No. 10 seeds in recent ESPN, CBSsports.com and USA Today projections, putting them at the back end of at-large bid candidates.
Michigan State hosts No. 16 Wisconsin on Sunday, then visits Illinois and No. 24 Maryland before playing in the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans will also have the challenge of playing without senior guard Eron Harris after losing him to a knee injury.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of things that happen in these last two weeks,” Izzo said. “We’ve just got to take care of as much of our business as we can and see where that takes us.”