Both Michigan State and Michigan’s basketball teams find themselves in good positions heading into the end of the 2024-25 college basketball season. Michigan State, led under Head Coach Tom Izzo, has gone to March Madness for 26 straight years, the longest current streak of any college basketball team. It’s safe to say Izzo has led Michigan State to heights in basketball they thought they could never achieve: he has won 10 regular season Big Ten titles, six conference tournament championships, eight Final Fours, and delivered the program a National Championship in 2000. Additionally this year, he set the record for the most Big Ten wins of any coach passing Bob Knight after Izzo led his team to a 79-65 comeback win over Illinois, giving him his 354th conference win.
This year, the Spartans have been playing some of their best basketball. After starting their year 2-0, the Spartans faced their first real test against No.1 ranked Kansas. Michigan State would go on to lose 77-69. A few weeks later in the Maui Invitational, Michigan State beat Colorado before losing to Memphis 71-63. The next day, Michigan State was able to just barely beat North Carolina to end 2-1 in Hawaii and feel good about their trip. Michigan State then was able to win their next twelve games, jumping from a preseason unranked team to the Top 10 in college basketball. On the West Coast, Michigan State would lose their next two games against the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Southern California (USC) but were able to bounce back after coming back from being down fourteen points to Oregon in their next game.
After coming back and beating Oregon, the Spartans felt like they were back on the right track. They were set to play Indiana and were favored to win by more than 10 points, but Indiana stunned Michigan State, handing them their first loss at home all season. Izzo said that his team hadn’t faced adversity yet, but after losing three of their last four games, Michigan State found themselves in a hole.
Michigan State came back and won their next three games, all against top teams in the Big Ten. After their last win against Michigan, the Spartans are now in first place in the conference standings with a 22-5 overall record and a 13-3 record in conference play. Michigan State will end their season with three of their next four games being against ranked teams. Izzo has always been known to be a good coach down the stretch, especially in March Madness, but Michigan State needs to improve their three-point shooting which ranks last in the Big Ten. If they can do that, then this could be the team that takes the next step and delivers Izzo his second National Championship.
About 60 miles southeast of East Lansing, Michigan’s basketball team is looking to bounce back after missing their first March Madness since 2015 (not including the COVID-19 2020 year where there was no tournament). Back in 2021, after Juwan Howard led the Wolverines to their first Big Ten regular season championship, Michigan fans had a glimpse of what the future could look like. The next year, as an 11-seed Michigan lost to Villanova in the Sweet 16. They have never made it back since, going 18-16 in 2023 before having another disastrous season in 2024 where they finished last in the Big Ten standings.
Michigan’s head basketball coach Juwan Howard would finish his career at Michigan with an 87-72 record including a 49-47 record in conference play. Even though Howard had Michigan one possession short of making a Final Four against UCLA at the peak of his tenure, he never delivered Michigan a Championship. Now, former Florida Atlantic Head Coach, Dusty May has taken over Michigan after leading the Owls to the Final Four back in 2023, something Juwan Howard couldn’t do. Michigan finds itself in a good spot heading into March Madness.
Michigan finds themselves in a light they thought they could never reach: the Wolverines have gone 20-6 this year and most of their losses have been close games they could have won. Against Wake Forest, Arkansas and Oklahoma—their first three losses of the year— all were by less than three points. Michigan is also 12-1 at home and has an impressive resume. With a 48.9% field goal percentage, which ranks third in the Big Ten, and teams only shooting 41.1% from the field against the Wolverines which ranks second in the conference after Michigan State, Michigan could be poised for a run if they can put their pieces together at the right time.
This year, both Michigan State and Michigan’s women’s teams have also been playing well. Both teams are 10-6 in conference play so far this season and have also already played each other twice. The first time the Spartans and Wolverines went head to head, Michigan State came back after halftime to outscore Michigan by 34 and won the game 88-58. The second time at the Breslin Center, Michigan was able to win by 10 and held the lead the whole game. Both teams are very similar and it will be interesting to see what happens down the stretch.
With March Madness coming up, there is only one thing that everybody knows, expect the unexpected. If any team gets hot at the right time, their whole season can change and that’s what makes March Madness great. So even though Michigan State and Michigan’s men’s and women’s teams have both played well so far, there are still a lot of “unexpected” moments left that will determine how successful both team’s seasons really were.
