It’s unnatural to be writing “Too Early Michigan State Basketball Season Preview” during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This is just the second time since 2006 that the Spartans have been knocked out in the tourney’s first round game. Yes, it was more than just the biggest upset in the history of Michigan State basketball. It was the greatest upset in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
MSU was the fifth overall seed, at the very top of the #2 seed line. No #1 has ever beaten a #16 and of the rare #15 over #2s, none had the magnitude this one did. Nearly a quarter of all the brackets in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge picked this Michigan State basketball team to win it all.
For the seniors Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes and Matt Costello it was an extremely depressing and harsh way to go out.
Autopsy of a Disaster:
Before we look ahead to next year, we have to first do an autopsy on this one and see what hard life lessons were learned. Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo was asked a question along these lines after the game, and he was very upset about it. Izzo said that he isn’t even thinking about tomorrow (at the time), let alone next year.
That is the right thing for a coach to say. It’s not his job to be looking ahead at that time. It’s our job in media to be looking ahead. We’re the ones to be focused on tomorrow and next year. For the MSU hoops community, that’s all there is right now.
Again it just feels so unnatural given that we still have two weekends of basketball left to be played.
Michigan State spotted their opponents a 17-4 lead before finally waking up. You can’t reasonably expect to win a postseason game when you do that. So this one is really on Izzo for not preparing them. How they were able to sleep walk through the first 8 minutes or so is beyond alarming. So the coaching staff let the players down. Of course, the roster itself has no one to blame but themselves. How you do give up 91 points and 56% shooting to a mid-major?
Even when this Michigan State basketball team did wake up, they still weren’t defending worth a lick.
He’s Gone:
Kudos to Costello for playing his heart out- 9/10 shooting, 22 points 9 rebounds. Forbes, after sleep walking through the back half of the Big Ten Tournament, didn’t show up until the second half. Valentine couldn’t stay out of foul trouble and what we saw on Friday was not a national player of the year. Still, these three are studs and will certainly be missed.
Although this was not a senior heavy team, it was a senior dominated team, so next year will be a rebuild and a reload at the same time. There’s a lot of depth and experience coming back, even though the alpha dog, second banana and tertiary weapon are all moving on.
He’s Coming Back:
Everybody else, well except for one guy, but we’ll get to him in a bit. Lourawls Tum Tum Nairn Jr, Gavin Schilling, Matt McQuaid, Eron Harris, Javon Bess and Marvin Clark Jr. all have the opportunity to play major minutes and have very significant roles.
He’s a Question Mark:ย
The biggest question to the 2016 Michigan State basketball team will be whether or not Deyonta Davis will be back.
Thereโs a lot of talk about him being one-and-done. That makes sense given how heโs projected to be a late lottery pick. Yes, Davis hasnโt produced all that prolific. He certainly has a lot to learn yet. As we see every year, countless times, the NBA Draft values height over stats and production though.
Davis could come out this year and develop into a quality NBA big in his third or fourth season. It may take that amount of time. Look at Meyers Leonard; or Steven Adams.
If he stays though, the McDonald’s All-American could become one of the nation’s top big men and increase his draft stock to top ten.
He’s Coming:
Behold #Theclass
Cassius Winston, Miles Bridges, Joshua Langford and Nick Ward (with potentially Josh Jackson) coming to Red Cedarside in a recruiting class that is unlike anything we’ve seen in East Lansing in quite some time. This is Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina or Kansas level. (Most recently it’s been pretty much just Kentucky and Duke, but you get the idea). Michigan State basketball wears green and white, but they have a blue blood class like all the boys in blue coming in.
Bottom Line:
A lot depends on the Davis decision, but when your freshmen are so much better than everyone else’s in the league, the future looks mighty bright. Iowa, Purdue and Indiana are senior dominated. Maryland will be losing almost all of their top talent. If this Michigan State basketball team doesn’t win the Big Ten, they’ll certainly finish in the top three. Nationally, this looks like a top ten to top fifteen team.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, partnered withย FOX Sports Engage Network.ย andย News Now.ย Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEyeย publicationย and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country.ย Follow him onย Twitterย andย Instagram
