Michigan State Basketball: Can the young Spartans live up to the hype?

Michigan State basketball has some very high expectations heading into this season. Tom Izzo has a talented squad, but can they make a deep run?

Since head coach Tom Izzo took over for Michigan State in 1995, the Spartans have made the Elite Eight nine separate times. Heading into this season, Miles Bridges and company are projected to be a preseason top-5 team with the expectation of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Like every other top team, however, there are questions surrounding MSU.

For starters, this is a team that struggled during much of last season. People had high expectations for Michigan State a year ago and they were unable to achieve those. This team gets a year older and will grow under Tom Izzo entering this next season, but that doesn’t mean they are without fault. The Spartans are the clear frontrunner to win the Big Ten this season and will be one of the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament. Their biggest worrying point: youth.

In the past ten seasons, Michigan State’s best years have come when led by veteran leaders. For a better look at this, let’s take a peek at each of MSU’s last ten seasons, their best results, and how leadership has affected Tom Izzo’s rosters.

2007-08 (27-9, Sweet 16): SO Raymar Morgan (14.0 PPG), SR Drew Neitzel (13.9 PPG)

2008-09 (31-7, NChampG): SO Kalin Lucas (14.7 PPG), SR Goran Suton (10.4 PPG)

2009-10 (28-9, Final Four): JR Kalin Lucas (14.8 PPG), SR Raymar Morgan (11.3 PPG)

2010-11 (19-15, first round): SR Kalin Lucas (17.0 PPG), JR Draymond Green (12.6 PPG)

2011-12 (29-8, Sweet 16): SR Draymond Green (16.2 PPG), SO Keith Appling (11.4 PPG)

2012-13 (27-9, Sweet 16): JR Keith Appling (13.4 PPG), FR Gary Harris (12.9 PPG)

2013-14 (29-9, Elite Eight): SO Gary Harris (16.7 PPG), SR Adreian Payne (16.4 PPG)

2014-15 (27-12, Final Four): SR Travis Trice (15.3 PPG), JR Denzel Valentine (14.5 PPG)

2015-16 (29-6, first round): SR Denzel Valentine (19.2 PPG), SR Bryn Forbes (14.4 PPG)

2016-17 (20-15, second round): FR Miles Bridges (16.9 PPG), FR Nick Ward (13.9 PPG)

Based off of these, this last season was the only recent season that Michigan State was led in scoring by two freshmen. In that, they also finished with just their second-worst record of the last 10 years and did not make it to the Sweet 16. Heading into this season, it once again seems likely that Bridges and Ward will be the lead men for Tom Izzo.

Of the returning seniors, it looks like Tum Tum Nairn Jr. and Gavin Schilling will be the only two to receive major minutes. They will both likely come off the bench and will not make the kind of scoring output that we have seen out of prior leaders on top-notch Michigan State teams. In fact, this year’s starting lineup will likely be the youngest in some time for the Spartans and could come back to haunt them.

Cassius Winston (SO), Joshua Langford (SO), Miles Bridges (SO), Jaren Jackson (FR), and Nick Ward (FR) are likely going to make up the starting five and their lack of overall experience could pose a problem for Tom Izzo. All of these players are extremely talented, but do they have what it takes to make a deep run?

Izzo has done well in the best when gifted with highly talented upperclassmen who can score the basketball. Just about every major contributor for the 2017-18 Spartans will be a freshman or a sophomore and they will need to come in right away to play like experienced vets.

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Sure, Tom Izzo is one of the best coaches in basketball and he will find a way to make things work, but year in and year out there are struggles with young teams not living up to expectations. Will this year’s Michigan State team meet their expectations of making a deep run in the Big Dance or will they struggle to get things going? Only time will tell.