The Final Four Is Not On The Schedule - A Podcast Discussing Michigan State Basketball.

September 30, 2026: It took quite a few years but finally Fred Hoiberg pulled it off. He got Nebraska to the NCAA Tournament and won a game (two actually) before falling to Iowa in the Sweet 16. At the time of his hiring, it felt like Hoiberg was a home run hire but the ‘Huskers struggled for years to be truly competitive in the Big Ten.

Last year was the breakout year where they were one of the last undefeated in college basketball going all the way until January before their first loss. Nebraska had some key personnel losses with gr...

September 28, 2026: Eric Musselman was part of the strange domino coaching carousel before the Trojans joined the Big Ten. Entering his third season, he has yet to make the NCAA tournament despite having a host of highly touted talent. Was his departure from Arkansas just him getting out ahead of the posse or was it the opportunity in SoCal?

Now he is fielding his most talented team yet with 5 McDonald’s All Americans. Will the dysfunction of previous teams emerge or will the Trojans begin to get cooking and earn a postseason berth?

Are you looking fo...

September 25, 2026: Michigan State’s 2026-27 schedule leaves plenty of room for a high ceiling—but there won’t be many easy nights along the way. The Spartans face four heavyweights in the nonconference portion, giving them an early opportunity to prove they can compete with the best in the country. And while the rest of the nonconference slate may not carry the same national profile, there aren’t many true cupcakes either, meaning MSU should be tested throughout the opening months of the season.

Then comes a Big Ten schedule filled with potential landmine...

September 24, 2026: Ohio State has been a very curious program in the Big Ten since Chris Holtman took over. On paper, they seemed to have enough talent but underperformed. They lacked an identity and were largely mediocre with only occasional quick NCAA tournament appearances. Then the school fired Holtman mid season in the midst of another lackluster performance.

However, instead of seeking out other coaches, they quickly hired their interim - Jake Diebler who had some modest success finishing for Holtman. In picking Diebler so quickly they missed out on maybe Dusty May. And although Diebler finally got...

September 21, 2026: What appeared to be a solid yet underwhelming year for the Hawkeyes - .500 Big Ten record, up and down play but a NCAA Tournament bid - turned into so much more as they had probably the most improbable of tournament runs where they knocked off top seed Florida in the second round and made it all the way to the Elite 8 where they lost to Illinois.

Although the regular season was nothing like the postseason, it showed that Iowa may have found its coach as they established an identity that will probably hold up in the...

September 18, 2026: This afternoon, Michigan State fans got get an answer on one of the biggest recruiting questions of the 2027 cycle when four-star point guard Antonio Pemberton announces his college commitment. The 6-foot-1 guard from Masters Academy International has emerged as one of the top point guards in the class, and Michigan State is one of eight finalists for his services. Pemberton’s decision comes just days after his visit to East Lansing for MSU’s Grind Week, making the timing particularly intriguing as Tom Izzo looked to add another high-level point guard to the Spartan pipeline. We’ll bre...

September 17, 2026: Indiana is a good example of what can go wrong at a blue blood basketball school. Since losing Bobby Knight, Indiana has predominantly been stuck in a purgatory of sorts with only very brief moments of success. Recently, despite spending piles of money, the Hoosiers have struggled to win in any meaningful ways. Partly by hanging on to Mike Woodson for one year too many (looks like they missed the chance to hire Dusty May) and bizarre NIL spends for rosters that don’t work.

Now under new coach Darien DeVries, the Hoosiers are hoping that by...

September 14, 2026: For a school without as much financial support as most in the Big Ten, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard has been very effective finding diamonds in the transfer rough. A lot of Wisconsin’s success over the past few years has been due to finding the right guy passed over by other high major programs and making it work.

Gard has not only worked his magic in the portal but also changed the way Wisconsin plays. They have become a more volatile team by relying heavily on the 3 point shot and increasing their pace of play. But ca...

September 10, 2026: There’s good news and bad news for the Maryland Terrapins heading into this season. The good news is they probably can’t have a worse season than they did last year where they only managed to win only 4 league games. The bad news is they lost some of their brightest pieces from a disastrous team and will have to rely on some transfers to pick up the pieces.

Buzz Williams has had success wherever he has coached so there is little reason to doubt he doesn’t get it done in College Park. However, a lot of...

Sept 7, 2026: It’s hard to imagine a worse year for Dana Altman and his Ducks than last season as Oregon not only failed to make the NCAA Tournament, but barely won 5 games in the Big Ten. Riddled with injuries and transfers that just didn’t live up their billing left fans in Eugene disappointed for sure.

Like many teams, Oregon has had a nearly complete overhaul of its roster. Three promising recruits and slew of transfers, the Ducks will look to turn things around. One has to wonder how much longer Altman has at Oregon if this seas...

Sept 3, 2026: Last season wasn’t a great year for the Minnesota Golden Gophers but it could probably be judged as a very positive sign for the direction of the program. First year head coach Niko Medved led the Gophers to an 8-12 mark in his first season in the Big Ten despite severely lacking in talent.

This year the Gophers might have an outside chance of making the NCAA Tournament if things fall the right way with their transfers and player development. Whether Medved can maximize his team again will certainly be an interesting thing to watch th...

August 31, 2026: It has been a rough start to the new conference for the Washington Huskies. Danny Sprinkle is entering his third year leading the Seattle teams and has only managed 10 league wins in 40 tries. Not a great start with a new team or new league. Washington is a football school but one wonders how long a leash Sprinkle will get if the results don’t come.

As for the team, the Huskies - like most teams nowadays- lost quite a bit to the portal and one player as a first round NBA draft pick. The loss of St...

August 27, 2026: Northwestern head coach, Chris Collins, has got to be questioning his luck with the universe. Indubitably the best mens head basketball coach in Northwestern’s history, Collins had his team humming and occasionally in contention at the top of the Big Ten. Now, with the unlimited transfers and NIL (or pay to play) he is now working against tremendous forces.

Without the institutional or donor support that most Big Ten programs have, the ‘Cats are at a serious disadvantage. And unfortunately for Northwestern, the attrition was bad again this off season as they lost a couple real...

August 24, 2026: The Rutgers Scarlet Knights might be the only example in college athletics of a team that has done a complete 360 in under 10 years. This was a program that could barely collect 3 conference wins and a perennial conference loser (in every conference they’d been a part of) and joined the Big Ten to suddenly become a competitive team with winning seasons and NCAA tournament bids and wins only to give it all back and find themselves as one of the worst teams again in the league.

For whatever reason, Rutgers has very little donor support so it...

August 23, 2026: Just when you think things couldn’t get any nuttier in college basketball, it does and rosters for the upcoming season are as much in the lurch as ever before. State and federal court rulings are allowing a lot of graduated seniors opportunities to take another run at college. One such player is MSU’s Jaxon Kohler.

But this time Jax won’t be wearing the green and white and will instead stay home and play his 5th year at BYU. Why didn’t Izzo create room on the roster for Kohler when one of the spots wa...

August 20, 2026: Once again, it looks like Mike Rhoades and his Penn State Nittany Lions are headed to the cellar of the Big Ten. It’s hard to imagine any other fate for a program that has such open lack of institutional support. It’s so blatant in Happy Valley that current AD Pat Kraft just publicly said the quite part out loud, “Penn State will never be near the top in spending on basketball in the Big Ten.”

It’s hard to imagine a worse situation for Rhoades as he attempted to forge a different path last year. Unab...

August 17, 2026: Highlighting this year’s phenomenal freshman recruiting class for the Spartans is 6’5” guard/wing, Jasiah Jervis, from New York City. Jervis is a three level scorer, who defends at a high level. Recently, he played alongside teammate Ethan Taylor on the USA U18 national team in the Spring where he showed off a lot of his defensive acumen.

A two time state champion at Stepaniac high, Jervis led his team to success with his toughness and point guard duties. He fully expects to compete for significant minutes with this Spartan team playing the 2 and 3 position and maybe...

August 13, 2026: CJ Medlock was the first freshman to commit to this year’s class. Despite being from Michigan, he spent his last year in Missouri playing for Link Academy with fellow freshman, Ethan Taylor. By every measure, the 5’11” point guard had a winning season both in his personal and team success.

Known for being a scorer from both outside and in, CJ tells us that one of the best parts of his growth last year was in helping his teammates. He believes those leadership skills and understanding will pay dividends for him this season in East Lansing.

...

August 11, 2026: Julius Avent is a 6’7” freshman wing who hails from New Jersey and has turned some heads this summer. Ranked inside the top 100 as a recruit, Avent brings some unique things to this freshman class. Aside from a father who spent had a good NBA career, Avent has a 7’3” wingspan and has an 8’ 11” standing reach.

He is also a winner leading his New Jersey high school team to back to back state championships. Avent brings toughness, shooting, and defense to a very deep Spartan team. He just might force his way onto the court this season.

Are you lo...

August 7, 2026: In an outcome that was as obvious as the sun rising in the East, a federal judge has ordered that the NCAA’s rule for 5 years of eligibility for college athletes must apply to graduating seniors as well. That adds some uncertainty to what happens to MSU’s seniors Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler whom we discussed in the show.

But the ruling comes at a time when there is even more uncertainty related to proposed federal legislation to add some antitrust protection for college athletics. Would the legislation work as advertised? Is there any chance it w...

July 29, 2026: In this new portal era of college sports, one could be forgiven in overlooking the importance of high school recruiting. Michigan State, however, has not given up on development and restocking its ranks with top 100 talent. This years class was one of Izzo’s best, and we wouldn’t expect next year to be nearly as big.

However, even with a smaller class, next year’s could be very important in the Spartans’ success through the early 2030s. We discuss in the show how this year seems to be very delayed in getting rolling but now the offe...

July 24, 2026: Michigan State literately and figuratively added some size in their freshmen class with 5* Ethan Taylor from Kansas. Taylor is a 7’ big man who can run the floor. He brings athleticism and touch around the rim for MSU and looks to have an important role on this year’s team.

Taylor played at Link Academy last year alongside fellow freshman, Carlos Medlock, Jr. With the Spartans fielding a number of questions at the 5 this year, it is anyone’s guess as to how much Taylor will play. But it seems increasingly likely that MSU fans will have a chan...

July 17, 2026: With the graduation of MSU’s interior presence in Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper, Izzo and his staff felt the need to get an additional size to help in the middle. And boy did they find it in 7’3” center, Anton Bonke from Charlotte. Bonke has had quite the journey to East Lansing which began on the small Pacific island country of Vanuatu and travelled to JUCO in Arizona and then Providence and Charlotte.

Bonke brings size that rarely makes onto Michigan State’s bench since they require everyone to defend the pick and roll and run the floo...

July 10, 2026: Kaleb Glenn had a rough start to his MSU career by rupturing his patellar tendon before the season started last year. That injury required surgery and caused Glenn to miss the entire year. Although he was back to practicing in February, he never had a chance to make it onto the court during an actual game.

This season, the FAU transfer is hoping to make quite the splash with his ability to play both inside and out and guard 1-4 on the defense.

While the circumstances for Michigan’s head man leaving Ann Arbor we...

July 1, 2026: An annual summer rite of passage for every Michigan State Spartan is playing in the local pro-am league - Moneyball. It allows fans an early look at new players and where current players have changed their body or added to their game. There are a lot of things you can’t take from these games - whether someone can defend or rebound - but how the players have worked to add muscle or moves to their game is definitely one you can.

In addition to our observations on MSU’s personnel heading into next season, we also...

June 23, 2026: It was only a few weeks ago that we were discussing just how unusual it was for a league with 18 teams to not have any coaching changes. Yet here we are in late June with a surprise departure from Michigan’s head coach, Dusty May, who leaves to join the Dallas Mavericks. Reportedly, assistant coach Mike Boynton, Jr. will become the interim coach for the team this season.

While the circumstances for Michigan’s head man leaving Ann Arbor weren’t entirely shocking to us, the timing certainly came as a surprise. Word was out that he had...

June 18, 2026: The biggest strides most college players make are in the off season when they can work on specific parts of their game or conditioning. We’ve definitely seen that process at MSU where players radically improve between seasons. Other times, we’ve seen players just get stuck because of a string of injuries in the summers. The most notable of recent years was Travis Trice who never was healthy for summer until after his Junior season. And he came back as a force we could hardly recognize for a spectacular Senior campaign and NCAA Tournament run.

So t...

June 11, 2026: Shon Morris has been broadcasting Big Ten games for over 35 years. As a studio analyst and court side color commentator, Shon has watched the Big Ten expand from 10 to 18 teams and the nature of player compensation and movement change dramatically. We spoke to Morris at length about how the game has changed and his thoughts on the league.

Shon broke down what he like about MSU heading into next season and how he expected the Spartans to compete once again at the top of the league.We also talked about how he got involved and started...

June 5, 2026: Jack Ebling of the Drive with Jack show returns to help us understand the turmoil in the MSU administration and what it means for MSU athletics. With the departure of Michigan State president, Kevin Guskiewicz, does that mean that AD J Batt is soon to follow? How did we get here? Will this impact Spartan athletics?

In addition to getting a better handle on what’s happening at the university Board of Trustees, we also talked some MSU hoops. The return of Jeremy Fears, Jr., the role of Anton Bonke, and where Jack expects MSU to la...

May 28, 2026: Today we talked about MSU’s current roster in the decision by Jeremy Fears, Jr. and Anton Bonke to withdraw from the NBA draft. Fears and Bonke waited until the last possible day to make their declaration but they will be on the squad for the 2026-27 season (as we anticipated).

Next up is the 2027 high school recruiting update. This is an ever changing list but strangely, it appears that there are only guards on the target list by the coaching staff right now. Whether others get added in the coming months is hard to predict. We...

May 21, 2026: The episode we’ve all been (sort of) dreading is here where we discuss the final 3 teams in the Big Ten including national champion, Michigan. We reviewed the seasons for Illinois and Nebraska.

However, Jeremy Fears, Jr., and whether or not he will return to the Spartans was our first point of discussion. What are his chances of getting drafted? What are his draft strengths and weaknesses, and is his father giving us clues as to his decision making progress? All on tap for this week’s show.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel incl...

May 14, 2026: Senior Writer at the Sporting News, Mike DeCourcy, joins us for an expansive discussion on college basketball including NIL, the NCAAT expansion, and the Big Ten. Also, congratulations to Mike DeCourcy who will be entering a semi-retirement after the World Cup this year.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprinting.com) Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints supe...

May 7, 2026: Today we discussed the season recaps for the Big Ten teams #9-5. We’ve finally gotten to the teams that made the NCAA Tournament. Iowa’s surprising Elite 8 run, Wisconsin’s flame out in the first round and Purdue redeeming it’s mediocre conference performance with an Elite 8 appearance as well.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprinting.com) Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated...

April 30, 2026: If there’s one truth to the chaos of college athletics its that it can always become more chaotic. That seems to be the case now as the NCAA is on the verge of granting 5 years of eligibility to all athletes. Unfortunately for MSU and its situation at the 5 spot - it looks like the NCAA will not make the rule retroactive meaning that Carson Cooper would not be eligible for another season.

We also discuss the situation with Divine Ugochukwu, Duke’s deal with Amazon Prime, and a recap of the seasons of the #14-10 team...

April 22, 2026: A lot happened in just a day as Michigan State lost a guard in the portal - Divine Ugochukwu, and then they added a center - Anton Bonke. It is entirely possible that MSU’s roster is mostly set now as they head into May. Divine exits a very crowded guard position group both at the point and shooting guard.

Bonke comes in from the university of Charlotte as a 7’2” 270# center originally from the small island nation of Vanuatu. Bonke last season averaged 10.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game in 25 minutes. It will certainly be interesting to see...

April 17, 2026: Today’s show is on the portal with MSU and its search for a 5. Anton Bonke arrives on campus today but there are other names floating around as possible solutions for the Spartans’ hole in the middle. We dive into what happened with Sherrell, Bidunga, and the other bigs. As well as discuss the chance for maybe some more Cooper?

It’s always a little bit rough reviewing the seasons of the teams at the bottom of the Big Ten. But we discussed Penn State, Maryland, Oregon, and Northwestern. Surprisingly, there aren’t any coaching changes this yea...

April 10, 2026: It’s portal season but before that gets into full swing we wanted to have our annual MSU season review where we went deep into what we expected and what we got with the roster this year. We also closed the show with speculation about where MSU might go with additions at the portal for center.

Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recommend you go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing (https://www.nudgeprinting.com) Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MS...

April 2, 2026: Tom Izzo isn’t done yet so that means the beat goes on at the Breslin Center as the coaching staff is already preparing for next season. Izzo and the staff headed to the Chipotle Nationals - the de facto high school national championship - this week to watch 3 MSU incoming freshmen.

So if Michigan State is looking at next year’s additions let’s catch up with the freshmen and see how their senior seasons went. Carlos Medlock, Jr., Ethan Taylor, Julius Avent, and Jasiah Jervis are the guys coming to join the squad. Also, it’s w...

March 27, 2026: Michigan State’s season came to an end in the Sweet 16 falling to the UConn Huskies, 67-63. It began as the roughest of games for the Spartans as they failed to hit any shots and Connecticut couldn’t miss from 3 (6/7 to start). MSU found itself in a 19 point hole late in the first half. Fortunately, they buckled down and managed to cut the lead to only 8 at the half, 36-28.

The second half was competitive as MSU quickly cut the UConn lead down to 1 and later in the half actually took the lead a few times. Unfo...

March 24, 2026: Michigan State is still dancing as they prepare to play Friday night in Tom Izzo’s 17th Sweet 16 as he has the 3 seed Spartans match up against the 2 seed UConn Huskies. For those with a good memory, the two teams already faced each other this year in Storrs, CT in an exhibition match that UConn won. Of course, UConn is only two years removed from back to back national titles.

MSU will try to continue its improved play as they take on a very difficult Huskies team featuring all american forward, Alex Karaban. This Connecticut team is...