EAST LANSING — Listen to Tom Izzo long enough, and he comes across as a man at war. With his profession. With his peers. With the way the world has changed over his 31 seasons coaching young men.

He’s since put up his sword, leaving behind the committees and turning his attention to his own team — though every other week it seems there’s a viral moment of his assessment of the sport. Last week, it was pros getting NCAA eligibility. Thursday, he joked that players could change foul rules with a mere complaint. The fire that possessed him at 40 is still there at 70, still fueling him. Only now, it’s targeted toward getting the most out of his team, not the sport as a whole.

Izzo’s last great battle lies within Breslin Center, where a surprise Elite Eight run a year ago reinvigorated the hall of famer. Last year’s 30-7 campaign showed he’s not quite done yet — the fastball is still there. And though this year’s roster doesn’t have all the star power that he’s used to, it’s in putting together those various pieces that Izzo finds inspiration.

There was a glint in Tom Izzo’s eye as he coached last season. His team won the Big Ten championship by more games than ever before, and it made an Elite Eight appearance for the first time since 2019. A fire that had dimmed for a few lean seasons rekindled as he broke the Big Ten wins record, then tied the record for Big Ten championships. He felt reinvigorated, “proud” of a 30-7 run that ended in Atlanta.

“Maybe, maybe we’ll get another chance next year,” Izzo said back in March, “and maybe we won’t.”

Next year is here, and this year’s “maybe” looks to be another depth-driven assemblage with upside and versatility. It’s a puzzle that Izzo and his staff feel has lots of upside, but also a lot to figure out. And fast.

Because this year’s schedule — “from hell,” as he so eloquently put it — is a gauntlet. What starts with a warm-up against Colgate on Monday turns to preseason No. 14 Arkansas come Friday. Then there’s Kentucky, ranked ninth, at the Champions Classic a couple weeks later. No. 25 North Carolina in Fort Myers on Thanksgiving. No. 6 Duke at home in December. And because Izzo scheduled everyone short of the Dream Team and the Monstars, he won’t have all the time he wants to find the right answers.

“I usually had more games that (I) could work with,” Izzo said Thursday, moments after breaking down a practice spent honing the finer details. “And now we got quite a few of them — not in a row, but pretty close in interval.”

Growing pains

Last year’s Elite Eight run can be a guide for this new roster to coalesce, but it doesn’t have all the same pieces. There is no Jaden Akins, a responsible wing who’d been through fire and flame for three years. Jase Richardson, who became its best player during the season, is in the NBA. Half the current rotation is made of two transfers and three freshmen, one of whom redshirted last season.

This year’s four core returners — point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., forward Coen Carr, forward Jaxon Kohler and center Carson Cooper — are going to have to do some heavy lifting.

But the Spartans need more than them alone. That showed Tuesday night in an exhibition at No. 4 Connecticut. The Spartans never recovered from scoring just three baskets through the first 12 minutes and 36 seconds of the game. Fears had six turnovers, despite an all right game. Kohler and Cooper had double-doubles but lacked intensity. And foul calls hampered Carr’s ability to get out and run. More like complementary pieces than pillars, the returners showed there’s some growing pains to being key players.

“I think the two exhibitions helped a lot,” Fears said. “Just understanding where we are, where we need to get, how much better we need to get.”

A lot better, if the Spartans want to stack up to this schedule. There’s a reason for it in the first place. Long a proponent of playing anyone, anytime, anyplace, Izzo likes to know he has a good team rather than get surprised about its limitations later on. This year’s slate is the toughest schedule since 2016-17, a few months after a strong 2016 roster flamed out in a first round upset to Middle Tennessee. So, Izzo is bound to balance two competing forces: building the right rotation for all these parts, while also seasoning his players, without breaking them in the process.

None of it will be easy, as much as last year’s run made it seem.

“That took work,” Izzo said in March. “I mean, everybody thought it was just smooth. I can’t tell you.”

Izzo is excited about what he can build with this team. He showed that even before the first practice, before he really got to sink his teeth in. He’s certainly excited now, still prone to get butterflies when his team steps onto the court for the first time each season. He’s competitive, and this type of success is a good challenge.

A type of challenge that’s gotten rarer when dealing with agents and contracts is more prominent in the sport than ever. Those issues have always been around the sport, but now they’re integral. This era of NCAA rules has made the sport less developmental, more professional in a way that doesn’t sit right with someone who’s seen as a steward of the sport.

Not quite done

No one would question Izzo for retiring — he already beat Jud Heathcote, who handed him the reins at 68. He outlasted Jay Wright, and Mike Krzyzewski. Roy Williams. Jim Calhoun twice. Jim Larranaga. Even Bruce Pearl — who just made the Final Four by summiting Izzo’s Spartans.

“Everybody that beats me in the tournament resigns,” Izzo joked last month.

Izzo isn’t quite done yet. Not when he can win. Not when this team can win, so long as he can figure out how to do it. His way.

Getting the pieces of his rotation to fit just right will be the challenge of this season. Michigan State has some chunks fleshed out. It’ll want 30 minutes or so from Fears and Carr, and one or both of Kohler and Cooper will be on the court most of the time. Divine Ugochukwu probably fills in when Fears is off the court.

There are other pieces — important ones, like borders — that the Spartans still need to figure out. At shooting guard, neither Kur Teng nor Trey Fort have impressed defensively, and that’s a non-negotiable for his players. Maybe even freshman Jordan Scott, whose scrappiness and focus are a little akin to Jase Richardson’s arrival last season, will fill that spot. A summertime injury to transfer Kaleb Glenn will thrust “Both those freshmen have been pleasant surprises,” Izzo said. “They both play hard as hell. They’re both very smart kids. That’s been a big plus for us so far.”

There are still questions about this team on the court, but those are good ones. The kind Izzo likes finding answers to. Whatever last season sparked, it’s still there, driving him alongside the dogged competitiveness that refuses to let him quit. Not when he’s still winning.

“If I win the last one, it would be a cold day in hell before I quit then,” he said.

And hell is still hot, just like the schedule ahead. How quickly Izzo can put the pieces together will determine whether this team can handle the heat. freshman, Cam Ward, into more minutes. How many are too many?