Tom Izzo has had an interesting coaching tree throughout his career. He’s helped coaches like Tom Crean see a ton of success at the Division 1 level, but there have also been some flops — not because they were bad coaches, but they were made to be top assistants.
Izzo had some former assistants trying to turn mid-major programs around this season, most notably Mark Montgomery (Detroit Mercy) and Dwayne Stephens (Western Michigan).
Montgomery is trying to get Mercy turned around quickly and he’s two wins away from winning the Horizon League Tournament and getting Detroit back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012 and just the seventh time ever…