Tom Izzo makes feelings very clear amid March Madness expansion buzz

Michigan State Spartans coach Tom Izzo gave his take on the March Madness expansion debacle, the NIL and the transfer portal in a conversation with Rick Pizzo on the Big Ten men's basketball channel on YouTube.

The 70-year-old, who's in favor of the expansion, weighed in on why it would benefit the sport. The video was posted by the channel on Wednesday.

''There’s a lot more Division I teams, No. 1,” Izzo said (8:47). “And there’s a lot more people that put money into basketball, No. 2. And we see that football went from four to 12, now they’re talking 16 or 18."

However, he also talked about going through the process slowly.

“I think you can water down a tournament,” he said (8:57). “I don’t think we should be going to 100. I don’t know what the right number would be, but if you look at it, how many better teams are there today than there were 20 years ago?

"There’s a lot better teams and there’s a lot more of them. There’s what, 363 or something? So I think that should play some of the part in it.”

Tom Izzo recalled the times he lost to teams that were ranked lower and said that it's what makes the postseason special.

“I don’t want to lose… there’s something about, even though I’ve been a part of Cinderella’s slipper not fitting, I’ve lost to a 15-seed or a 14-seed, but that is what makes the tournament,” Izzo said (9:19)

“And I think keeping those teams in and maybe expanding a little more so you get more of the better teams in could be good. But, at 68, it’s not broken. I just think we’re getting more teams. People are putting more money into basketball, so there’s better teams.”

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Tom Izzo signed two players from the Class of 2025

Tom Izzo's Michigan State reached the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament last season. To improve his roster, he sealed the signatures of four-star small forwards Cam Ward from Largo High School on Oct. 22 and Jordan Scott from South Lakes on Oct. 10.

He also acquired Kaleb Gleb from the Florida Atlantic Owls, Divine Ugochukwu from Miami Hurricanes and Trey Fort II from Samford Bulldogs in the transfer portal.