Tom Izzo's Spartans Are a Joke, and He's Known It All Along

So, this is why Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo nearly bolted East Lansing for Cleveland last summer.

It wasn’t the money; it wasn’t the opportunity to coach LeBron James; it wasn’t his drive to conquer the National Basketball Association the way he has college basketball.

Izzo thought long and hard about taking the Cavaliers job because he saw a massive storm cloud headed for the home front.

After dismissing junior point guard Korie Lucious late Tuesday night, Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans are officially a sad joke that have become the laughing stock of this college basketball season.

Izzo is a genius and apparently, his smarts aren’t limited to X’s and O’s.

He knew two months in advance that he would kick senior starting wingman Chris Allen off the team; he knew Lucious would screw up again, just a few months after his DWI arrest in August and he too would be joining Allen; and he knew senior star Kalin Lucas’ ruptured achilles tendon wasn’t going to fully heal in time to help the Spartans live up to the lofty, and now absolutely ludicrous expectations that come with being the country’s No. 2 team in the preseason.

He was also aware that LeBron James was going to Miami and that, as disastrous as the 2010-11 season was about to be, it’s just one year and it still beats coaching a King-less Cavs club that is currently in the midst of an 18-game losing streak.

Wouldn’t it have been nice of Izzo to fill everyone in on these happenings beforehand, though?

Think about it: It would have saved everyone associated with Spartan basketball the unexplainable disappointment brought by this 12-7 mess of a start that only figures to get worse. Thousands of reputable college basketball writers and publications credibility would have been saved.

Most importantly, the city of Cleveland would’ve been spared the agony of "The Decision."

Michigan State faithful and college basketball analysts everywhere will utter the classic “It’s Izzo and the Spartans, they’ll figure it out for March like always” statement.

That’s stupid for a number of reasons.

Many people base that on the last two years that ended with trips to the Final Four. One of the reasons Izzo is always angry and pushing harder is because his program still gets zero respect, despite all it has accomplished under his reign.

The past two teams didn’t “figure out” anything in March. They were a 31-7 and No. 2 seed in 2009. They won the Big 10 Conference by four games, one that put six teams into the NCAA Tournament.

On the way to the NCAA Finals, Michigan State beat defending champion Kansas and blasted two No. 1 seeds from the vaunted Big East, Louisville and Connecticut.

For some reason, that team was viewed as the definition of underdog. Again, stupid.

Last year, success came harder to Michigan State, but it still won 28 games and earned a five-seed, which should have been much higher since the Spartans were again crowned Big 10 champs. They were very good entering the tournament and, after the favored Kansas Jayhawks lost early to open the door, probably would have won the whole thing if Lucas’ achilles didn’t rupture in the second round. 

All they figured out how to do was how to make it to another Final Four without their best player and leader. 

But I digress. 

Back to my negativity. There was the 2005-06 team that was similarly overrated. It started the year ranked No. 1, only to finish 8-8 in conference and become George Mason’s first victim in its Cinderella run to the Final Four.

Or what about the 2003-04 group that possessed more depth and talent then most Izzo teams? It started out as a top 10 team, but went 0-5 against the elite competition in arguably the most difficult non-conference slate Izzo has ever scheduled. That butchered State’s confidence early in the season and it was never recovered. 

The Spartans received a seven seed in the NCAA’s and lost in the first round to Nevada.

Great teams don’t “figure it out” in March, so hopefully everyone sees the misconception here. Each and every one of Izzo’s six Final Four participants deserved to be there and had what it took all along to make a run. 

The ones that didn’t, well, didn’t.

I’ll be the first to say the '10-11 Spartans don’t advance past the first weekend of the upcoming NCAA Tournament. They don’t possess the size, depth or mental toughness, and can’t shoot straight, defend consistently, make foul shots or stop turning the ball over at the worst possible times.

That’s a lot to “figure out” in six weeks. Maybe Izzo pulls it off, but I’ll bet things get worse for Michigan State before they get better.

How could things get any worse, you ask? Easy.

The awful Wolverines from Ann Arbor, Izzo and Sparty’s most hated rival and losers of six straight, visit the Breslin Center tomorrow night. I can’t bring myself to paint the scenario, so if the clairvoyant one already knows the end result, pray tell.

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