OPINION: Michigan State is still the Big Ten's best March program

The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is over. In a field that started with 68 teams, only 16 are still standing.

Of the eight teams from the Big Ten Conference invited to the ‘Big Dance’ only one remains – Michigan State. Head coach Tom Izzo has taken the Spartans to the ‘Sweet Sixteen’ for the 15th time in his coaching career.

What does this mean for MSU?

After an up and down regular season and an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, Izzo and the Spartans found themselves in a familiar situation after being named the No. 7 seed in the tournament’s East region. Not many expected Michigan State to escape their region, but here they are, one of four teams out of the East with a chance to reach the Final Four.

Furthermore, being the last Big Ten team remaining in the tournament shows the Spartans are still the alpha program in the conference.

Purdue won the Big Ten’s regular season and tournament titles in its best season in recent history. The Boilermakers then proceeded to become just the second No. 1 seed ever to lose to a No. 16 seed when they fell to Fairleigh Dickinson. Meanwhile, preseason Big Ten favorite Indiana had a solid year, finishing second in the conference and earning a No. 4 seed in the tournament. The Hoosiers’ program may be back on the upswing, but they too failed to escape the opening weekend when they lost on Sunday to No. 5 seed Miami.

No matter what happens in the regular season, Izzo always has his team ready to play in March. He is the only active head coach in the Big Ten with a Final Four appearance. Purdue’s Matt Painter, who was hired in 2005, is the second-longest tenured coach in the Big Ten and has only reached the ‘Elite Eight’ once. That alone shows the grip that Michigan State has on this conference. While Wisconsin and Michigan have made it to the Final Four recently, both of those programs have hired new coaches since those recent tournament runs.

While any team in the tournament is a respectable opponent, Michigan State had a tougher two-game draw than this year than either Purdue or Indiana. Marquette was the No. 2 seed in the East region, coming off Big East regular season and tournament titles, while No. 10 seed USC finished second in the Pac-12 conference. These two wins for the Spartans are another testament to the preparation that Izzo puts in with his team come tournament time.

While making the second weekend of the tournament is important for the Big Ten, Michigan State has higher expectations. Izzo has only had one senior class which failed to reach the ‘Final Four’. Coincidentally, those seniors played in the East region in 2014 and also played the regional semifinals in New York City at Madison Square Garden, just like this year’s Spartans will on Thursday.

This current senior class had never even escaped the first weekend during their MSU careers until this past Sunday, and after checking that off the list they have a chance to avoid becoming Izzo’s second senior class to never reach a Final Four. One of those seniors, Tyson Walker, is a native of New York and will be returning home to compete in the ‘Sweet Sixteen’ with a chance to solidify himself as one of the great Michigan State guards to lead their team to a Final Four. He’ll be joined by fellow seniors Joey Hauser, Malik Hall and Jason Whitens.

No Big Ten program has won more regular season championships, conference tournament titles and NCAA Tournament games than Michigan State during Izzo’s tenure. The Spartans remain the top dog in the conference, but this 2022-23 team still has something to prove at a national level.