Looking ahead: Youth movement will help Michigan State leave upset in past

11:18 PM ET

It’s never too early to look at what’s to come. Over the next few weeks, we will give you a peek at what is ahead for teams in the Power 5 conferences and some other teams expected to be players on the national scene. Next up: Michigan State Spartans.

The shock hasn’t worn off just yet in East Lansing. The Spartans were supposed to be cutting down nets, not causing fans to cut up their ruined NCAA tournament brackets. Three months on, their 90-81 loss to Middle Tennessee State in the first round is still a source of bewilderment. How did a team with many of its 2015 Final Four pieces in place and a coach in the 2016 Hall of Fame class go out like that?

Until a No. 16 seed knocks off a No. 1 in the NCAA tournament, an argument can be made that the Spartans’ loss as a No. 2 seed to the No. 15 Blue Raiders was the biggest upset in tournament history. Tom Izzo doesn’t even shy away from that claim.

Tom Izzo should be able to get over last season’s NCAA tournament stunner with a stellar recruiting class. Jamie Squire / Getty Images

And Izzo remarked it was as tough a loss to take as when the No. 3 seed Spartans lost to No. 14 seed Weber State in 1995, back when he was the coach-in-waiting, in Jud Heathcote’s final game on the sideline. Unlike Heathcote, Izzo will get a chance to bury that memory next season. And he’ll do so by welcoming one of his best-ever recruiting classes.

But first Michigan State says goodbye to one of its most beloved players ever. Denzel Valentine led the team in scoring and assists and was second in rebounding. Valentine picked up national player-of-the-year …

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