Izzo’s Spartans, Foster’s Buckeyes on verge of epic collapses

Who knew this school year could get any weirder for the Big Ten after its shocking deterioration during the football bowl season?

But it’s happening with basketball.

We’re on the verge of witnessing two of the most unexpected and epic collapses in Big Ten conference history, one on the men’s side with Michigan State and one on the women’s with Ohio State.

You’re probably familiar with the trials and tribulations of the Michigan State men’s team.

The Spartans are coached by one of the best in the nation in Tom Izzo and returned a veteran team that entered the season coming off back-to-back trips to the Final Four.

Michigan State seemed appropriately ranked in the national preseason polls at No. 2.

But four months later, the Spartans are unranked and so far off the radar that even the best GPS system might not do them any good.

They are 14-10 overall and just 6-6 in the Big Ten. They’re not just in danger of being unable to defend their spot in the Final Four, they’re in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament altogether.

The wacky and disappointing season prompted Izzo to get philosophical recently with John Feinstein of The Washington Post.

“I’m not saying I like losing on any level,” Izzo said. “But it probably isn’t a bad thing when you start to hear that you’re God or you walk on water to be reminded that you’re not, and you don’t.”

Just as the Michigan State men have been hit over the head with that not-so-gentle reminder, so have the Ohio State women.

The Buckeyes have absolutely mystified the Big Ten this winter.

They entered the season gunning for their seventh straight Big Ten title. That’s right, seventh.

And it seemed well within reach.

Ohio State, also coached by one of the Big Ten’s most respected coaches in Jim Foster, returned all five starters from a year ago, including two all-Big Ten first-teamers in senior center Jantel Lavender and junior guard Samantha Prahalis.

Lavender, who earned first-team all-America honors from the Associated Press last year, has owned the Big Ten since she stepped foot on Ohio State’s campus as a freshman. She has been named the Big Ten’s Player of the Year every year of her career, as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

You’d think this season would be a walk in the park for the Buckeyes.

Well, it’s turned out to be a walk in Central Park … at night … with a gang of thugs lurking behind. Like the Michigan State men, the Ohio State women have had their alter-egos running the show most of this season.

After beginning the season ranked as high as No. 6 in the country, they are now unranked, 14-9 overall and just 5-6 in the Big Ten. They’ve been swept by teams such as Northwestern and Michigan, both of which are vastly improved but were the doormats of the league as recently as two years ago.

Here’s the bright side for Ohio State: If the Buckeyes fail to make the NCAA Tournament, which is a shocking, yet very real possibility, at least they’ll have someone to commiserate with. The Michigan State men.

“This team won 31 games last year and returned all five starters and may not make the tournament. It’s shocking. It would be one of the biggest collapses in Big Ten history,” said Jim Massie, a reporter for The Columbus Dispatch who has been covering the Ohio State women for the last 14 years. “I can tell you that I’m definitely tired of writing the same story, the ‘What’s wrong with Ohio State story.’

“The fan base here is getting restless. I get e-mails all the time asking me what’s going on. No one here can figure it out.”

There are tangible differences between this Ohio State team and those that have won Big Ten titles in recent years. For instance, the Buckeyes are missing a deep bench and an abundance of spot-on 3-point shooters.

But Massie thinks the problems are less concrete, more psychological in nature.

He says the season turned south when Ohio State got destroyed by top-ranked Connecticut at Madison Square Garden in December. The 31-point victory was historic for Connecticut. It gave the Huskies their 88th straight win and placed them into a tie with the UCLA men’s teams of the 1970s for most consecutive wins in NCAA history.

“I don’t think they’ve ever been the same after that Connecticut loss,” Massie said of the Buckeyes. “This team used to have moxie. People used to be afraid of them. But that loss to Connecticut exposed some things and it put those players in a position they haven’t been in before.

“All the players at Ohio State came from winning high school teams. They’ve won a lot of games at Ohio State. They faced adversity against Connecticut and they’ve faced more since then and I think part of the problem is that they don’t know how to handle it. Most of them have never had to face adversity like this as athletes.”

The Buckeyes have shown flashes of being able to push through.

In the last month, they’ve gotten wins over Michigan State, Iowa and Purdue, three of the top teams in the league.

But without more consistency, especially over this stretch run, Ohio State might still be sitting home in March.

“I think some people would be willing to give Coach Foster and the team a mulligan for this year,” Massie said. “But they better win next year.”

pbabcock@dailyherald.com