Before the 2025-26 season began, Tom Izzo was hard at work trying to get his team to gel in a hurry. He had several new faces on the roster, and it was going to take one of his best coaching efforts to get them on the same page before facing a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule.
The previous season’s team was one of the closest he’s ever had, and he attributed that to the success that they saw. They wouldn’t have won the Big Ten or made the Elite Eight if they didn’t all play for each other rather than their own personal accolades.