Michigan State basketball Sweet 16 draw brings all the coaching love

Consider it a Sweet 16 reunion of sorts for Tom Izzo.

Up first for Michigan State basketball, a rematch with Dan Hurley’s Connecticut team that handed the Spartans first loss of the season (even though it didn’t count).

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Get through that, and either the omnipresent Duke Blue Devils or Izzo’s close friend Rick Pitino and his St. John’s Red Storm await.

The East regional of the NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena in Washington will feel like the basketball equivalent of K Street with the coaches’ schmoozing and gushing over one another. And Izzo will have plenty of familiarity with the others vying for the East’s spot in the Final Four.

Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo, right, meets with Duke’s head coach Jon Scheyer before the game on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

RELATED: Couch: Jeremy Fears and Coen Carr through Trey Fort — why it’s clear Izzo believes MSU has a shot at a Final Four

The 3-seed Spartans head to Izzo’s 17th Sweet 16 and will face 2-seed UConn on Friday, March 27 (9:45 p.m., CBS). The winner will advance to Sunday’s Elite Eight against either 1-seed Duke or 5-seed St. John’s.

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Almost presciently on March 16, the day after the bracket was revealed, Izzo said he felt MSU’s region was “maybe the best” in the entire NCAA field.

“I took a big picture of the region we’re in with Duke – not looking ahead at all, just figuring out what is your bracket,” the 31st-year Hall of Fame coach said last Monday. “When I saw St. John’s as a 5-seed, I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ They had beat the daylights out of UConn, and I have great respect for UConn.”

Between the four coaches, they own five national titles, 18 Final Four apperancs, 25  Elite Eight trips and 33 Sweet 16 appearances. Now, all four will be in D.C.

And the Spartans (27-7) have lost to two of them already this season.

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MSU lost to the Huskies, 76-69, in an exhibition game on Oct. 28 in Hartford, Connecticut….

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Publish date : 2026-03-24 01:07:00

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