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Michigan State Basketball: How impressive is NCAA Tournament streak?

We don’t appreciate just how impressive this streak is.

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Michigan State basketball
© Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Michigan State basketball NCAA Tournament streak puts into perspective just how great the program truly is.

As Michigan State basketball fans, I don’t think we fully realize just how lucky we are. We have been extremely fortunate when it comes to the success our basketball program has achieved. All of the Big Ten titles and Final Fours are amazing, but arguably the most impressive feat accomplished by our program is our NCAA Tournament streak.

Michigan State’s NCAA Tournament streak currently sits at 25 consecutive appearances. This dates back to 1998 when it began. The younger generation of Spartan fans likely has never experienced missing the tournament in their lives. That includes myself since I was born in 1998 just after this streak began.

Michigan State’s streak compared to the country

How does this streak stack up with the rest of the country? Currently, Michigan State’s streak of 25 is second-best in the country behind only Kansas. The Jayhawks’ streak sits at 33, which is eight better than the Spartans. Gonzaga is not too far behind the Spartans with 24. After Gonzaga, there is a massive drop-off, with the next closest active streak being eight from fellow Big Ten school Purdue.

Some of the best programs in the country like Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky aren’t even able to achieve what MSU has.

Including all the streaks that are no longer active, Michigan State’s streak is still third-best all time. North Carolina had a streak of 27 which ran from 1975-2001. So give Tom Izzo and Michigan State three more seasons and they will then pass the Tar Heels.

Michigan State’s streak compared to the Big Ten

Michigan State’s streak looks even more dominant when you compare it to the rest of the Big Ten. No Big Ten team even comes close to the Spartans’ current streak, with Purdue being the closest at eight.

Here is a list of all Big Ten teams’ current NCAA Tournament streaks:

Michigan State: 25
Purdue: 8
Iowa: 4
Illinois: 3
Indiana: 2
Northwestern: 1
Maryland: 1
Penn State: 1
Rutgers: 0
Michigan: 0
Wisconsin: 0
Nebraska: 0
Ohio State: 0
Minnesota: 0

Some fanbases, I’m looking at you, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, like to act like they are on the Spartans’ level. This list proves that they truly aren’t even close to us.

Even when you expand the data to include each team’s longest streak ever, only a couple of Big Ten teams even get close to Michigan State. Wisconsin had a streak of 19 from 1999-2017 and Indiana had a streak of 18 from 1986-2003. Comparing Michigan State to our in-state rival, Michigan’s best streak is only six. This was accomplished twice by the Wolverines from 1985-1990 and 2016-2022.

MSU accomplishments during streak

All of these tournament appearances are great, but do they truly mean anything if you don’t accomplish anything? Thankfully Michigan State doesn’t have to worry about that because we’ve accomplished a lot.

During this streak, Michigan State has made it to 15 Sweet 16s as well as eight Final Fours and one national championship. This means that Izzo has gotten Michigan State to the second weekend 60 percent of the time and the Final Four 32 percent of the time. Both of these are extremely impressive stats when you think about it.

However, the most impressive accomplishment of all is where Izzo stacks up all time compared to other coaches. After making it to the tournament this past season, Izzo set the record for most consecutive NCAA Tournaments by a single coach. The record was previously held by Duke’s Coach K at 24. Kansas’ current record and North Carolina’s best streak of 27 all occurred between multiple coaches, so Izzo’s current streak of 25 is the best ever for one coach. We are extremely lucky to have him as our coach and this stat only adds to that sentiment.

How long will this streak continue? Nobody knows the answer to that question, but I feel confident saying it will last as long as Izzo is head coach.

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Writer says there’s a huge gap between Purdue and Michigan State basketball

This seems like a wild claim.

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© Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Gregg Doyel of the Indy Star claims that Purdue is “historically loaded” and there’s a huge gap between them and Michigan State basketball.

With the news of Jaden Akins and AJ Hoggard returning along with Tyson Walker and Malik Hall to go along with the No. 4 recruiting class in the country, Michigan State basketball went from a conference title contender to a national title contender.

Essentially everyone who follows college basketball has Michigan State as a top-five team and right there in the Big Ten as 1B to Purdue’s 1A — some even have it the other way around.

The Spartans bring back everyone but Joey Hauser to a team that went to the Sweet 16 and Purdue returns national player of the year Zach Edey to a Big Ten title team. Both teams are loaded and should be at the top of everyone’s list when it comes to national title contention.

But one Indy Star writer believes that Purdue is “historically loaded” and the talent-and-depth gap between the Boilermakers and “everyone else” is as large as he’s seen in years. Just a wild claim.

Gregg Doyel cites a solid incoming class to go along with Edey returning and the two freshmen guards with another year in the system. But he fails to recognize that Michigan State got even better. The Spartans are bringing in an even better recruiting class and they return their 2-3 most talented players from a year ago. The only loss is Hauser.

Saying that this year’s Purdue team is far-and-away the most talented and deepest team in the Big Ten and the gap is the biggest it’s been in years is asinine. There was a much larger gap last year.

Michigan State will go toe-to-toe with the Boilermakers and as long as Edey can be neutralized, the Spartans will have a chance to take them down for the Big Ten crown.

It’s tough to say a team like Michigan State basketball that’s 11-12 guys deep is not nearly as talented or deep as Purdue, but hey, let’s put that early chip on the shoulder.

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Michigan State Basketball: Allocating guard minutes for 2023-24

A lot of guards, not a lot of minutes to be had.

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Michigan State basketball
© Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State basketball has an absolutely loaded backcourt heading into 2023-24. Let’s allocate the guard minutes.

Michigan State basketball has a loaded backcourt with the news of AJ Hoggard and Jaden Akins returning next season. Add this on top of Tyson Walker coming back and Michigan State adding a four-star point guard in Jeremy Fears just loads up this back court even more.

Let’s take a look at what the minute allocation could look like between the five guards on the roster.

Starters

The starting point guard is clearly set into place with AJ Hoggard starting 33 of 34 games last year. Next year’s team still goes as Hoggard goes and he will most likely average 28-30 minutes per game. AJ being able to defend multiple positions allows him to play alongside any of the other three guards on the roster next year. He should average around 15 points per game and six-plus assists. Him being able to increase his 3-point percentage up to 35 percent next year should help his scoring dramatically.

The starting shooting guard is Walker who started in all 34 games last season and nothing will change this season. This team is going to rely plenty on Tyson to begin the season as this team continues to mesh with all of the different lineups. He played almost 34 minutes per game this season due to injuries and necessity. Tyson will take a step back and only play 30-32 minutes this upcoming season. He will look to average 16-plus points per game and 2.5-plus assists.

Backups

This may come as a surprise, but I believe the backup point guard role will fall to Tre Holloman. He has a year under the belt with the system and should take a step forward in his role. He is able to defend either guard position allowing him to play with any of the other four guards on the team. Holloman will play anywhere between 8-12 minutes per game and will look to be in a more featured role running the backup offense. Tre should average 3-5 points per game and 1.5 assists.

Jeremy Fears will fill in and be able to learn from a loaded backcourt while playing 6-8 minutes per game which could be pushed to 8-10 by the end of the season. Fears defense should rival what Walker brings to this team with this second group. Fears offensive role will look like Tre’s freshman year and not looked upon much offensively. He should look to average 1.5-plus points and one assist per game.

Finally, Jaden Akins will fill in anywhere from 2-5 minutes at the two-guard spot. He can help fill an offensive role when Tyson is out of the game and can handle some of the pick and roll duties in this spot. Akins will mostly play on the wing as he started 25 games there last season. He is a guard, but he’ll be forced into playing on the wing.

Minutes Summary

  • AJ Hoggard: 28-30 per game
  • Tyson Walker: 30-32 per game
  • Tre Holloman: 8-12 per game
  • Jeremy Fears: 6-8 per game
  • Jaden Akins: 2-5 per game

Akins did tweet this out the other day:

So he could see more ball-handling duties.

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Jeremy Fears makes final cut for U19 USA Basketball team

Jeremy Fears could represent USA Basketball again.

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Jeremy Fears
© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Incoming Michigan State freshman Jeremy Fears has made the final cut for the U19 USA Basketball team.

Incoming Michigan State basketball freshman Jeremy Fears is hard at work this summer. He is currently in the process of trying to make the final roster for the U19 USA Basketball team. Thirty-five athletes have been selected to participate in their upcoming training camp, and Fears is included on that list.

Training camp for these 35 athletes with take place June 11-18. Twelve players will then be selected to participate in the FIBA U19 Wold Cup at the conclusion of this training camp. The World Cup takes place from June 24 through July 2.

The 35 players consist of some athletes in the 2022 class that have one year of college ball under their belts. The pool of players also consists of athletes from the 2023 incoming freshmen class and the 2024 class who will be high school seniors. More than half of these participants have USA Basketball experience and ten of them have won gold for the USA already.

Jeremy Fears’ USA Basketball history

Jeremy Fears is one of the 10 players mentioned to have already won gold for the USA. In fact, Fears has won a gold medal twice. He won the 2021 U16 FIBA Championships and in 2022 won gold in the U17 FIBA World Cup.

Based on this history alone, I love his chances to make the team again. The USA Basketball program is obviously very familiar with him already which gives him an advantage. Also, why wouldn’t they want someone who has won two gold medals to play for them again?

Fears has yet to move in to East Lansing like some of his fellow members of his freshman class have. He likely will see this event out before moving to campus to start gearing up for the regular season. Michigan State has had many athletes compete with team USA in the past, so Tom Izzo is more than happy to let his players participate.

For the full USA Basketball press release, click here.

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