Tom Izzo may have led the Spartans to a Big Ten Conference championship and Elite Eight finish last season, but it wasn’t enough to impress On3 college basketball analyst James Fletcher III, who released his Big Ten preseason top-10 coach rankings Monday.
Entering his 30th season at Michigan State, the longest-tenured Big Ten coach was ranked No. 2, behind Purdue’s Matt Painter.
Fletcher fairly acknowledged Izzo’s coaching talent, opening his comments on the coach by writing, “From a historic perspective, Tom Izzo belongs on top of this list.”
Fletcher continued:
“The Hall of Fame coach has proven time after time in his career that he is among the elite coaches in college basketball history. He also continues putting up big results on the floor, getting his team into position to battle when the NCAA Tournament starts. After a reluctance to lean on the transfer portal in the new college basketball model, he slowly started implementing the changes in a way he felt more comfortable with than how others use it. That has started to create a happy medium which could extend his run at the top of the sport for years to come,” Fletcher wrote.
As Izzo gets used to the transfer portal, the Spartans made important roster changes this offseason.
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Michigan State lost Jase Richardson to the NBA this summer, when the guard was drafted by the Orlando Magic with the 25th overall pick in the first round. They added guard Trey Fort (Samford) and forward Kaleb Glenn (Florida Atlantic) from the transfer portal, though Glenn will miss the entire season after suffering a torn patellar tendon in June.
The Spartans will look to improve their performance compared to last season’s, which ended in the Elite Eight round of March Madness. Michigan State fell 70-64 to Auburn, who went on to lose to eventual national champion Florida in the Final Four, 79-73.