Tom Izzo discusses Michigan State's older players wanting to go on a run

Michigan State men’s basketball hasn’t played beyond the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019, when the Spartans went all the way to the Final Four. None of the players on the current roster have made it past the Round of 32, something Tom Izzo is well aware of.

While the head coach pointed out Covid took away the opportunity for every team to play in the postseason in 2020, he knows a first trip to the Sweet 16 could be a savory reward for his upperclassmen.

“So, is it a rallying cry? That’s the other funny thing about this day-and-age is figuring out how to drive people and not put too much pressure on them. And especially this group — this age group, always — but this group of kids that have been through so much with Covid and everything, it’s really a balancing act. So, you know, one thing I’ll do tomorrow morning, we’ll have an eight o’clock meeting, and I’ll meet with my upperclassmen. And I’ll talk about it. And I’m just going to tell them right out ‘This is what I want to do, can you handle it? Can they handle it?’ So it’s a little different than how I used to be,” Izzo said on selection Sunday.

Izzo had some humor on the subject, too. Between the cancelled tournament from Covid, the altered season that followed and the two seasons since, he knows there have been missed opportunities. But he also doesn’t think a handful of years of getting skunked in the NCAA Tournament is the end of the world.

“So, you know, I went to Columbus and they said ‘He hasn’t been to a Sweet 16 in four years.’ I said, ‘Well you could’ve only possible been there in three years, because they didn’t have one,'” Izzo said.

Izzo also addressed a few players who can step up to help lead MSU out of the first weekend for the first time in a while. First up: Joey Hauser.

“I know Joey is really excited. I’ve never seen him so excited. He’s not a guy that gets excited, so I’m excited that he’s excited, if that makes any sense.”

The veteran sharpshooter is the type of player who can trampoline into stardom during March Madness as a streaky shooter who could come out guns blazing and help MSU steal a game over a higher-seeded foe.

While Hauser could be a guy to step up on offense, the grizzled MSU coach knows that what the team really needs is a defensive presence.

“I think, in general, who do we need to step up? Anybody that can guard somebody,” Izzo continued. “That’s who we need to step up. We went through it today with them on film. We showed them. AJ (Hoggard’s) gotta pick that up a lot, and he’s capable of it, because he’s done it before. Malik (Hall), still gotta get him where he’s – he’s back practicing, he’s back doing things, but doesn’t look as athletic. He talked to me about that.”