Annual Tradition: Tom Izzo Went On A Rant About How He's Getting Too Soft As A Coach And It's All His Fault The Team Stinks This Season

This is becoming an annual tradition for Tom Izzo. Not the stupid January, February, Izzo thing either. But rather him saying he's gone soft after Michigan State loses. Normally I laugh about it, make some football practice joke and then watch them make the second weekend as a 7 seed or something. But instead I did some big J stuff and really, really took a look at everything.

This team stinks. 

That's my conclusion because it's right. They are shooting 27.5% from three, easily the worst under Izzo. Sure there's some variance and that will likely come up, but from who? Then there's the soft talk. Izzo can claim he's soft, sure, that could be the case. But this is also the worst rebounding team in the history of Izzo's coaching career. They are giving up rebounds at an alarming rate, ranking 195th in the country, which is really just a reminder that we have too many teams in this sport. 

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I know, I know. It's December. This is what Izzo does. Except this was preseason top-5 (because people fall in love with 'they return everyone') and now are 4-4 with 2 home losses. Not great! Only thing they have is that win over Butler, but the Big East keeps losing big games this year outside of the top-2 or 3 teams. 

Then there's the Izzo thing. We all know he hates playing freshmen and tries to delay it as long as possible. Xavier Booker was supposed to be a player for this team and he can't get on the floor. He keeps tinkering with lineups trying to see what works and I'm convinced at some point he'll just go 5 bigs. Outside of Tyson Walker and some moments from Coen Carr and Carson Cooper no one has looked the part. 

I have no idea what he's talking about with the lawyer thing too. My first instinct was something NIL related, but that doesn't make sense. Maybe he's talking about everyone who criticizes the team? But that's a bizarre thing to throw in there. It sounds weird to say but the next two games really lay out the rest of the season. They have a game at Nebraska and a 'neutral' site game against Baylor. Beat Baylor and you're fine. Lose both and it's panic time.