3 Reasons to Feel Good about MSU Basketball Entering Postseason
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There are no more opportunities to take a loss.
Losing (to an extent) can be a little bit healthy for a team across the span of a 31-game regular season. No. 8 Michigan State, which just wrapped up its regular season 25-6 overall with a 15-5 Big Ten record, is now going into the postseason with a bad taste in its mouth after a 90-80 loss at No. 3 Michigan on Sunday.
"We deserved what we got, and we will get better..." Tom Izzo said after the loss. "There's no moral victories. I'm at Michigan State, no matter what those people think, and we've done it longer and better than most. So, there's no moral victory, but I'm proud of them because I thought we played with them in every way, shape, or form."
Izzo got his "Mr. March" nickname for a reason. He's won a national title, made eight Final Fours, has reached 16 Sweet 16s, and has also won the Big Ten Tournament six times, which is the most for any school since the tournament was first played in 1998.
This year's team has the capability of raising banners at the Breslin Center this postseason. Here are a couple of reasons why fans can be optimistic:
Favorable Big Ten Tournament Draw
Let's start with the immediate challenge Michigan State has in front of itself: the upcoming Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. The Spartans ended up tying for second in the conference's regular season standings, but dropped to the No. 3 seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker belonging to Nebraska, which took the second seed.
With how things are set up, it's probably actually better to be the third seed this year than the No. 2 seed. MSU's most likely quarterfinal opponent is UCLA, which took the conference's sixth seed. Nebraska's most likely foe is seventh-seeded Purdue.
The Boilermakers have hit a rough patch at the end of this regular season, but given their skill and experience, it's probably better to stay away from them until perhaps the semifinal round. What can also inspire confidence is Michigan State's 82-59 win over the Bruins during the regular season.
Additionally, a potential second shot at the Cornhuskers could also do MSU some good. They also haven't played tremendously lately, finishing the year 6-5 in their last 11 games. Avenging that loss from Jan. 2 on a neutral court would definitely make the Spartans' resume look a little more polished.
Re-Emergence of Kohler
Michigan State also has to like what it's seen from Jaxon Kohler lately, who seems to be breaking out of a slump that he had been in for much of the Big Ten schedule. Kohler began the season with 17 straight games of at least 10 points and had a deadly three-point shot. But then he went on an 11-game span where he only averaged 8.6 points per game, and he only made 23.1% of his threes.
Kohler's last three games have indicated that he is starting to return to form. He just had 23 points and eight rebounds while going up against a pretty strong Michigan frontcourt (Kohler had just 12 points and five rebounds in the first meeting) and has averaged 19.7 points and 9.3 rebounds across this three-game stretch, also going 6-for-13 (46.2%) from three.
Best Basketball at Best Time
It's not a great time to say it after a loss to a rival, but this is still just about the best version of itself that Michigan State has been all season. The Spartans had entered Sunday's game on a five-game winning streak that included three Quad 1 victories.
They just had to play the toughest intra-conference game imaginable at the very end of the regular season. I'd still contend MSU put up an A-minus or B-plus performance in Ann Arbor on Sunday, but it takes an A or an A-plus to take down Michigan this season.
"We were a better team," Izzo said when asked about differences from the first UM meeting to the second. "I think we're getting better every day... I thought we did a hell of a job in probably five of the last six games, to be honest with you, so I think we are getting better."
Three wins in Chicago, and a banner goes up in the Breslin Center. Four wins in the NCAA Tournament, and an even bigger, more immortal one gets raised. Six wins in March Madness is a whole 'nother story, but everyone knows that's what Izzo is chasing right now.
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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