Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is the master of the NCAA Tournament. Over his 19 seasons, he's made the dance for the last 17. Never has he entered with less than five losses, but he's won a national championship (2000), lost in the title game ('09), advanced to four Final Fours, one Elite Eight, and four Sweet 16s. Not counting those first two years, Izzo has averaged somewhere between a Sweet 16 and an Elite Eight appearance (with the Sweet 16 scenario more likely). That's an absurd rate, and maybe the highest ever. It also means they have a good chance at upsetting Virginia this week to advance to the Elite Eight. I wish he was my cross country/track coach; maybe I would have fared better at the end of seasons.

One of the keys to Izzo's success is the type of player he recruits. Even in the days when high school players were allowed to enter the NBA draft and college players tended to stay longer, Izzo's program stood out for retaining them longer than most. Today, he recruits a similar type of athlete: the best ones are usually good enough to make the NBA, but usually not until they're upperclassmen. It's a recruiting art that probably works itself out organically. The one-and-done blue-chippers, for some reason, aren't attracted to Izzo's system and nor is he to theirs.

Of course, there have been exceptions over the years, most notably Zach Randolph, who left after a single season, and Jason Richardson, after two. This year, Gary Harris will likely leave after just two seasons. More common, however, are guys like Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, and current seniors Adrien Payne and Keith Appling.

Because of Izzo's success and long tenure at Michigan State, he's almost annually asked if he'll ever move on, perhaps to the NBA. After the most recent question, he gave his usual response to ESPN:

"There's been so many rumors over the years," Izzo said on Tuesday. "I look at people I used to recruit against years ago [that] said that I'd be gone, but I'm still here and some of those schools have had three different coaches. I've always said I'd never say never to anything because you never know what it brings. But I got so much more work to do here. I have a great president, a great AD and a football coach that I really get along [with]. So this is a pretty good place for me right now. We're in a pretty good spot. Program's in pretty good shape. Ain't broke, so why fix it?"