Spartan Basketball: Elite?

For several years Head Basketball Coach Tom Izzo has pointed to the 2009 Final Four at Ford Field as a goal for his team and program. He has recruited and

For several years Head Basketball Coach Tom Izzo has pointed to the 2009 Final Four at Ford Field as a goal for his team and program. He has recruited and built for it since the day the Final Four was awarded to the city of Detroit. Early in the season when the team struggled I said that you can only judge Coach Izzo at the end of the season and nothing has changed with that.

 

As we approach the end of the season the Spartans have a big task ahead. They must win a Big Ten Regular Season title (not the Big Ten Tournament title) or make it to the Final Four or this season will be an unmitigated failure.

 

MSU has not won a Big Ten title in eight seasons and the MSU faithful are getting restless. Coach Izzo has said time and time again that his program is striving to be elite. In fact, when I mentioned before the 2006-2007 season that a trip to the “Big dance” would be his best season, Izzo said to me, “We want to be elite and we must be judged by elite standards for that to happen. Making the tournament isn't how you judge elite programs.”Â

 

Elite teams cannot go eight seasons without a league title. I give Izzo the benefit of the doubt by saying either a Big Ten Title or the Final Four because he has never hidden that he would prefer a Final Four to a Big Ten title.

 

The Spartans have elite facilities, elite talent and an elite coach. Those are three things that not many programs have all at the same time. If the Spartans go without a Big Ten title or a Final Four this season it will be time to put down the Green Kool-Aid and take a true look at this program. It hurts to say it but if the Spartans fail to achieve their goals for this season, you can easily say that over the last eight years this team has not risen to the elite status Izzo has always wanted. Thankfully, I think we will win the Big Ten title and put the argument to rest, but after that performance at Purdue Tuesday one has to be sincere and ask the tough questions.

 

I am not one of the crazies that think Izzo has to win it all every year. I am, however, a realist and with all the attention Izzo has placed on this season, and the programs track record over the last eight seasons you have to ask without a Big Ten regular season title or a Final Four are they truly elite?Â

 

I don’t think you can answer that question now because I still think they will win the Big Ten title. But that loss against an inferior Boilermaker team, a loss that made you question if the team wearing Purdue on the jersey was actually the Spartans, is a real cause for concern. Izzo and the team acknowledged afterwards that Purdue was tougher, played better defense and without a doubt they were hungrier. Elite teams and programs should NEVER have their hunger and heart questioned but this one has. The Spartans will have a chance to quell the nerves of Spartan Nation this Sunday against an always tough Wisconsin team. If they are elite, if the program truly is what Izzo has said it is, they will show us.Â

The loss to Purdue wasn't on coaching, it was on heart. The Spartans lacked intensity and simply got out "Spartaned" (nice new word) by a team that had what they used to and should. One regular season game doesn't make a season. How they respond will tell us that they are? Elite? Good?

 

I still think they will win the Big Ten regular season title…let’s just hope I’m right.