As our two-week rivalry week period comes to a close, I wanted to do a bit of a holistic recap of the men’s basketball program’s rivalries in the last two decades, and a look at which programs seem poised to fill the role in the coming decade as we look ahead to the close of Tom Izzo’s tenure at Michigan State (I am unsure whether he will see-out the decade, but I would be surprised, though delighted, if he coached into the 2030s).
While Michigan State has maybe its dearest and most cherished traditional rival in Michigan, it is safe to say that, as the marquee program in the B1G, Michigan State is open to all-comers, and has been since the the late-1990s.