Something I often find myself wondering about during the offseason is which of Tom Izzo’s many dominant teams were good enough to win a national championship but came up short. And it turns out, this is something Izzo has also thought about before.
Izzo recently sat down with Rick Pizzo of the Big Ten Network to discuss a number of topics surrounding his Spartans program and his own career. One of the items he discussed was the teams he thought were capable of winning a national championship but came up short. Can you guess which three teams he named?
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Here’s the list from the man who led those teams:
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2013-14 team that lost to UConn in the Elite Eight of NCAA Tournament
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2015-16 team that lost to Middle Tennessee State in first round of NCAA Tournament
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2019-20 team that never got the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament due to COVID-19 cancellation
It’s painful to think about how each of those seasons came to an end, but I unfortunately have to agree with Izzo on each of those teams being capable of winning it all. I would also add the 2018-19 team that lost to Texas Tech in the Final Four as I would have liked the Spartans chances against Virginia in the title game had they beaten the Red Raiders.
Izzo, of course, has won one national championship during his career in 2000, and has been chasing his second title ever since. He has came close on numerous occasions, including this past year when the Spartans reached the Elite Eight. Hopefully, before Izzo elects to hang it up, he’ll reach that pinnacle again and claim one more national championship at Michigan State.
Check out the whole clip of Izzo talking about these teams, as well as some other interesting notes from his interview with Pizzo in the video below:
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Izzo names previous teams he thought were capable of winning national title
