Michigan State Spartans Advance to the Sweet 16 After Unlikely Victory Against Marquette

 In their 25th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the Michigan State Spartans have earned victories against USC and Marquette.  Despite not playing their best in either contest, the team was able to do just enough to move on in the tournament.  Unfortunately, they have not been able to click on all cylinders against the USC Trojans or the Marquette Golden Eagles.  Against the Trojans, making free throws proved to be a difficult task to tackle.  Conversely, with the Golden Eagles, the Spartans went 2-14 when shooting 3 pointers, while sinking most of their free throws.  Hopefully, as the tournament progresses, the Spartans will find themselves playing more consistently as competition becomes more difficult.

Since Tom Izzo took the head coaching job at Michigan State 28 years ago, his teams have always had the reputation of playing their best basketball in March, as well as, in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  In College Basketball, head coaches put together their team’s non conference schedules each year.  In Izzo’s case, he ensures his squad has one of the toughest schedules in the college game.  Annually playing teams such as Kansas, Duke, and Kentucky, the Hall of Fame coach hopes his team will be playing at its finest by the end of the year.  Though this is not the case this year, they are playing well enough to best their competition.  In their last contest, they beat a number 2 seed in the tournament, while the Spartans were number 7.  Izzo has beaten the higher seeded team 16 times in his career to advance in the tournament.  He’s hoping to do it a few more times in an effort to guide his team to National Championship.  The first one for the Spartans in 23 years.

As throughout the season, the offense has struggled to find itself this postseason.  Generally, if they are hot from the 3 point line, they win, if they aren’t they lose.  In fact, until Sunday the green and white had only won one game this season when they struggled from behind the long line.  Thanks to decent free throw shooting,  tight defense, and some sloppy play from Marquette, the Spartans overcame the lackluster performance on offense, that included missing some high percentage shots.  If the team wants to go much further in the tournament, there are some aspects of their play that need refinement.

To compensate for Michigan State’s poor play at times, the Golden Eagles turned the ball over 16 times.  Furthermore, the Spartans were able to block several shots in an effort to put an end to Marquette’s 9 game winning streak.  The upset of the Golden Eagles adds to a growing list of upsets that have occurred in this year’s tournament, including 16 seeded FDU putting an end to the  number 1 seeded Purdue Boilermakers’ tournament run.  This is only the second time in the history of the tournament that a 16 seed has sent a number 1 seed packing.  If Izzo and the Spartans want to have continued success, they will have to pile up several more of those upsets.

As a rule, March is where the Spartans thrive.  Thanks to their early season tests against some of the best teams in college basketball, they are able to withstand the challenges that the postseason offers.  When March arrives, they seem to perform at the necessary level to beat most of their competition.  One reason for this is that Tom Izzo always strives for his team’s perfection.  Though it will never occur, because this team is expected to play as flawless as possible, success will occur more often than failure for this squad.