Michigan State Basketball: Assessing this season, looking ahead to next year
It was a tough ending to a fun ride for Michigan State.
The Spartans’ 2022-23 season came to an end in the Sweet 16 overtime loss to Kansas State on Thursday. The Spartans were favored in that matchup and considered by some — including myself — to be the favorite to reach the Final Four out of the East Region. However, that didn’t happen, and it’s time to move on to the offseason.
Let’s take a look back at the Michigan State highlights and lowlights of this past season, and begin to look ahead to next year:
Highlights from this season
Here are a few of the most memorable highlights for the Spartans from the 2022-23 season:
Beating Kentucky in Champions Classic: The Spartans’ first big win of the year came against a preseason top 10 Kentucky squad in the Champions Classic. It was a thrilling game the Spartans won in double overtime.
Rivalry win over Michigan: Anytime you beat your rival, it’s a big deal. Michigan State won the first of two meetings with the Wolverines in early January — although it dropped the road tilt at Michigan in late February.
Win over Indiana in first home game following on-campus shooting: It was bigger than basketball on Feb. 21 when the Spartans topped Indiana in their first home game since an on-campus shooting that left three students dead. Michigan State was fueled by an inspired home crowd and knocked off a ranked Hoosiers team to ultimately secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA Tournament run to Sweet 16: By far the biggest highlight of the year for Michigan State was a pair of victories in the NCAA Tournament to reach the Sweet 16. First, Michigan State beat No. 10 USC and followed with an upset win over No. 2 Marquette in the second round to reach the Sweet 16.
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Lowlights from this season
Here are a few of the most memorable lowlights for the Spartans from the 2022-23 season:
Blowout loss at Notre Dame: There was some context and understandable factors that led to Michigan State’s embarrassing loss at Notre Dame in the final ACC-Big Ten Challenge. But those didn’t excuse how bad that loss was — especially since the Fighting Irish didn’t end up anywhere near the NCAA Tournament.
Historic blown lead at Iowa: Blowing a double-digit lead in the final minute of a game is pretty hard to do — but that’s what happened at Iowa in late February. Michigan State played nearly perfectly en route to what appeared to be a big-time road win before everything went wrong in the final minute of that game.
Big Ten Tournament defeat to Ohio State: Michigan State laid an egg in its Big Ten Tournament opener against Ohio State. That loss came on the heels of the Spartans beating the Buckeyes the week prior and clinching a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament the next day.
OT loss to Kansas State in Sweet 16: Losing in the Sweet 16 isn’t anything to be disappointed about. Especially in overtime to a team that simply couldn’t miss at times. But it still belongs as a lowlight since it appeared there was a path to the Final Four had Michigan State won as the favorite in this matchup with Kansas State.
Overall thoughts on this season
Entering the year, I would have said you’d be happy with a top-four finish in the Big Ten and a Sweet 16 appearance.
This wasn’t a Spartans team that many expected to contend for a Big Ten title, and throughout the year it became clear they’d be too inconsistent to achieve significant success. So overall, it’s fair to consider this year a positive step in the right direction knowing what’s on the horizon.
On the flip side, it’s also fair to be disappointed knowing the East Region opened up for the Spartans to reach Tom Izzo’s ninth Final Four had they held onto beat Kansas State in overtime. Both of those statements can be true.
Looking ahead to 2023-24 season
Reaching the Sweet 16 will not be considered a success for next year’s Spartans. Not to me at least.
Michigan State will enter the 2023-24 season as one of the favorites to win the Big Ten and there’s a good chance it will be ranked in the top 10 nationally in the preseason poll. Should Tyson Walker elect to come back for another season, there’s a good chance Michigan State will return four of its five starters — only losing Joey Hauser. Combine that with the No. 3 recruiting class in the country and we are talking about really high expectations for Michigan State next year.
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