13 straight NCAA appearances.
5 Final Fours.
1 National Championship.
There's no denying Tom Izzo's tournament success, but I read something today that caught my eye. In eight of the last nine years, Michigan State has been seeded fifth or worse. Eight out of nine years. Fifth or worse. Remarkable.
Admittedly I have been blinded by the tournament resume to have noticed this statistic, but it does beg the question: Is Izzo overrated as a coach?
Yes, he's absolutely fantastic when it counts (and perhaps that's all that matters), but his seeding over the last nine years proves that, despite some enormous talents, his teams have been somewhat of a letdown or disappointment.
Hey, I love Izzo. I wouldn't want any other coach at Michigan State. But he talks about Michigan State reaching elite program status constantly...well if you want to be elite, you better be consistently good- which means five or better with the seeding a majority of the years.
~Mikey D
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4 comments:
Or does it mean he can really get them to perform when it counts??
In my opinion, if you want to be an elite program, you have to show excellence throughout the year- regular season and tournament.
Don't get me wrong, we're a great program. UCLA North Carolina, Duke, Kansas...they're elite because they start and finish with stellar play.
Of course 2 out of those 4 aren't even dancing =).
I think you're right. MSU needs to be consistently good if it's going to become an elite program.
Perhaps he's overrated in east lansing, in that most MSU students believe that if a giant asteroid were about to destroy the earth, it would be Tom Izzo who would save us and not NASA or the Army. (Which seems very plausible to me, for the record.)
But nationally, I think he's rated just about right: as a great coach, but not the greatest coach. If you asked a casual basketball fan in Maryland who the current 5 best coaches in college basketball are, I would be surprised if he mentioned Izzo. He would likely mention the coaches at elite programs.
But I would also bet that the same fan has heard of Izzo and if you suggested the name and mentioned our resume, he would say "Oh yeah, I guess he needs to be in the discussion."
In the end though, the tournament record is all that really matters. And my perception of that record isn't really changed if they started the tournament as a 1 seed or a 5 seed.
This has been a disappointing season so far for MSU. But if they make another final four run in the tournament, all of the problems this team had during the year will fade away, and I will consider the year to be a success.
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