Tom Izzo realizes how hard it is to succeed in March Madness in his time with Michigan State basketball since 1995. He was a champion in 2000 and a runner-up in 2009, but most of his tournaments have ended in heartbreak. Izzo missed the tournament in his first two seasons in charge, but has since made it to 25 consecutive tournaments. He has 17 Sweet 16 appearances, but that is nothing compared to what Mark Few has done at the helm of Gonzaga basketball.
"What he did in the Sweet 16s, we've gone to 17 of them but not consecutively, they go to 9 consecutive…but I have tremendous respect for what he's done there."
MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo says Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few called him after the Bulldogs loss on Saturday night pic.twitter.com/kHBpUPxLUW
— Alex Crescenti (@alex_crescenti) March 23, 2026
Izzo will return to the Sweet 16 when he faces UConn in the tournament's second weekend, but it is just the second time he has made it that far since the team's last Final Four appearance in 2019. While the Spartans will make it farther than Few's Bulldogs this season, Izzo understands that what Few has done over the past nine seasons is special, and something he can only dream of with the Spartans.
After Gonzaga's upset loss to Texas in the tournament's second round, the team will miss the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014. Few had lost in five consecutive second rounds when the Bulldogs lost in 2014, and he hopes this loss to the Longhorns won't start another such streak.
Few made two National Championships over the nine-year streak, but have no titles to show for it. They lost to Baylor in 2017 and to North Carolina in 2021. While Tom Izzo is jealous of the Bulldogs' run of success, Few would likely trade them all to have the National Championship that sits on Izzo's trophy shelf.
