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March Madness is a recipe for basketball insanity and several upsets. This year has felt especially crazy, with Michigan State becoming the latest team to pull off a shocking win. The Spartans produced a 69-60 victory over second-seeded Marquette in the East region on Sunday to move to the Sweet 16.
Despite entering the tournament as a No. 7 seed, the Spartans (21-12) had no trouble cruising through USC 72-62 in the opening round before producing an impressive victory over Marquette in the round of 32.
Fans have been quick to praise coach Tom Izzo, who is no stranger to tournament success.
Tom Izzo's NCAA Tournament success
After two wins to open this year's NCAA Tournament, Tom Izzo has now moved to 56-23 all-time in March Madness. This is second among active coaches, trailing only John Calipari of Kentucky. Izzo has gone to eight Final Fours but won the national championship just once in 2000.
He is the longest-tenured head coach in the Big Ten Conference and has the most wins in Michigan State history with a 686-276 career record. He is also riding an impressive streak in which the program has qualified for the NCAA Tournament for 25 straight years, which is the longest active streak among coaches.
Izzo and the program will now shift their attention towards No. 3 seed Kansas State (25-9), which they will face in their Sweet 16 matchup. The Wildcats knocked off John Calipari's Kentucky squad 75-69 and are playing with a great deal of momentum and swagger.
The Spartans finished fourth in the Big Ten. There did not seem to be high hopes after ranking 206th in the country in scoring this season. They went just 6-9 in Quad One matchups but look to have caught fire at the right time.
Perimeter shooting has been a strong suit for Michigan State as the Spartans ranked third in the country in 3-point percentage by connecting at a 39.4% rate. This is headlined by the efforts of Joey Hauser, who has shot a team-best 46.5% from deep this season. This has carried over to the tournament as Hauser is 5-for-8 beyond the arc and has tallied 31 points across the two games.
The Spartans will need this hot shooting to continue to have a chance to continue their upset streak and take down Kansas State. There is plenty of reason to remain optimistic and hopeful that Tom Izzo's experience and success in March can be a driving force.
