Quick takeaways from the Tom Izzo post-season press conference

The 2022-23 MSU hoops season is in the books and Tom Izzo spoke to the media on Wednesday to discuss it all.

Tom Izzo had a post-season wrap-up press conference on Wednesday afternoon. The presser lasted nearly an hour, so I’m here to deliver you some of the highlights.

Not expecting any roster changes

Rumors about players transferring or declaring for the draft have been swirling around social media and were an early question for Izzo this afternoon. He’s “really not” worried about any surprises with the roster, but mentions a few guys could enter the draft to potentially get feedback.

“Jaden (Akins) could, AJ (Hoggard) could, Tyson (Walker) could,” Izzo said.

While all of those are possibilities, it looks like Izzo believes the roster could be set for this upcoming year, with 12 scholarship players.

Depth. Depth. Depth.

“(Michigan State has) a pretty solid group coming back with a great group of recruits coming in. You put those two things together and there is a lot of optimism,” Izzo said.

The balance of veterans with Malik Hall and Walker’s recently announced returns mixed with the No. 3 incoming recruiting class in the nation (247Sports) has Michigan State firmly in contention for the top of the way-too-early rankings.

A huge issue for Michigan State this past season was depth. It was a problem when Akins and Hall were sidelined with injuries, and it was a problem when the guys got into foul trouble. With next year’s roster, that shouldn’t be an issue.

Having more bodies will also allow Izzo and the Spartans to play how he wants to play.

“We didn’t get to run as much; we didn’t get to put enough pressure on the ball,” Izzo said.

Freshman talent

A recurring theme in the press conference was how much talent is going to be on the roster next season. Two five-stars en route to East Lansing is something that has happened only once in program history (2016).

The difference between that class and this year’s class is there will be more veterans for the rookies to learn from.

Izzo hopes that the veterans can mentor the younger players and that some of the young guys can push the veterans. “One of those freshmen might beat out one of those juniors or seniors.”

The Big Ten

While preseason expectations are high, Izzo knows that he needs to worry about surviving the Big Ten before he worries about a March run.

“I learned last night, Purdue got everybody back. They won the league by three games,” Izzo said.

Assuming that means he expects Zach Edey to return to West Lafayette, that could mean a very fun and intense race in the Big Ten.

Scheduling

Michigan State’s non-conference schedule under Izzo has always been difficult, but last year was truly a gauntlet.

This past season, MSU faced Gonzaga, Kentucky, Villanova, Alabama, Oregon, and Notre Dame in the non-conference portion of the season.

“(It) wasn’t the teams we played, but the way it was laid out,” Izzo said, referencing multiple West Coast trips and not enough days off in between. He also mentioned he doesn’t regret it and would never pass on playing on an aircraft carrier.

Looking ahead to next season, a lot of scheduling remains to be done, but Izzo said a game against Arizona in Palm Springs, Calif., is likely to be on the schedule. This would be a massive game considering Arizona’s success under Tommy Lloyd, and a fun one for fans as the two schools haven’t played each other since 2016 when Arizona beat MSU in Hawaii by two.

Other games on the schedule to look forward to are a matchup with Duke in the Champions Classic and a Big East opponent in the annual Gavitt Games (potentially Marquette).

The full press conference is available here: Tom Izzo post-season presser.