College Basketball: Digital Big Ten Preview, #3: Michigan State

Let's continue our digital minded journey through the Big Ten Conference, from less best to best. We know these programs are out there, waiting for potential recruits to click in. And we'll see who gets it and who doesn't. Thus far, our tour has shown us #11 Northwestern, #10Michigan, #9 Ohio State, and #8 Wisconsin, #7 Indiana, #6 Purdue, #5 Iowa, and #4 Minnesota.

Here we go.

#3: Michigan State

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: CoachIzzo.com is pretty crazy, including a microsite for a player. Nice Facebook integration

Weaknesses: No coaches on Twitter, which would take this over the top.

Full Scouting Report:

Michigan State is the team that always seems to surprise people and end up in the Final Four. In fact, they've been to the dance 23 times and the Final Four 5 times since 1999. Or, as it's put on Coach Izzo's site, "Every 4 year basketball player under Izzo has played in at least one Final Four." That's powerful. Let's dive into State's athletics home page, here.




We'll start with the upper navigation. Note the Multimedia callout. When you mouse over it, you see this image - access to CoachIzzo.com, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Podcasts. Oh my. We'll get to this in just a second.


But first I wanted to illustrate that if you scroll down the home page just a little, you get visual callouts for these areas. I have to say this Spartan Facebook/Twitter/YouTube tout (shown below) is pretty impactful. Nice work.



Clicking on this tout (or on the Multimedia callout we talked about previously) gives you a lot more information at what MSU athletics can offer you to take with you to your world. First, see below - you get a nice look at what the Spartan Facebook site is all about. Not only do you get a description, but the latest activity of the network is loaded right here. Solid.


Scrolling down that page gives you a list of Official Spartan Twitter pages, along with Head Coach Twitter pages. (and a button to send you to the YouTube channel) I'm a big fan of what they are doing. Take a minute and help direct people to the exact experience they are looking for, rather than send them to a place they weren't expecting.




So we'll dive deeper. Clicking into the MSU Basketball Twitter link takes us here, to a really good team Twitter page. There's a nice amount of sharing articles on the coaches and teams plus providing updates on the squad. There's around 600 followers today, which I'm expecting will grow very quickly. (I recommend following this one!)



The MSU Athletics Twitter page is here, with roughly 500 followers. It's also a solid site, giving articles and updates on all MSU programs. Nothing really fancy, just a solid page.



MSU's YouTube Channel is honestly a little disappointing (link here). It's designed well, but there's just a lack of content and/or focus here. As of now, they had only 6 videos and didn't seem to have any cadence or plan to update regularly. I'd also like to see ability for fans to subscribe by sport (though they will need more video depth to make that happen!)




Also on that Spartan Multimedia menu and tout we saw the Spartan Podcasts callouts. Well clicking in takes you here, to a pretty solid place where you can download individual coaches shows or interviews or subscribe to get them all. Like on the YouTube channel, I'd love to see that ability to sign up and get only basketball updates, rather than have to get everything and filter what you want.



Going back to the home page, you see the Fans menu, here. They have one feature I'm going to highlight because it's so simple, yet very powerful, "Ask the Coach".


Clicking in takes you here - to a simple form that you can select your coach of interest and post a question. It's super simple and that's what I love about it. No signing up for an account, no extra steps. Just click in and ask. I think this is a nice balance to the Multimedia section we just drove through -- and allows the Spartans to connect with fans in a less tech heavy way.



Let's move on. On the home page, you'll see the Recruits button in the main menu (I'm pasting it below). I love these buttons, as it channels the attention of young athletes into a key area. Now it's up to the program to make that content relevant and dynamic. As you can see below, they funnel recruits to the Coach sites (CoachIzzo.com) and the academics sites (MSU.edu) for the bulk of their experience.



So let's check out Coach Izzo.com. Clicking in takes you here, to a MSU video experience with the Achievements of Coach Izzo elevated. These are powerful achievements, in many ways and they signal what's important to Coach: 12 straight NCAA tourneys, 11 NBA draftees, 83% graduation rate.




Scrolling down that page and you see an even bigger, visual look at what's important to the program: Academics, Tradition, and the Future. Really powerful.



I'll dive into a couple of these. Tradition. It's elevated here, and allows kids to visualize: every four year letterman under Coach Izzo has played in at least one Final Four. Wow.



The NBA button takes you here, to a page that profiles the 11 current (and 14 former) NBA players who came through MSU under Izzo. And discusses the legend of the best, Magic Johnson.


OK, now let's talk current squad. If you click on "The Program" (on the top menu of Coach Izzo.com) takes you to a roster. I thought that was it. But I decided to click on a player, just in case. And, wow was I surprised. Each player has a feature called "The Word," which is a powerful description of their game. What makes them special. This is amazing - the program is really celebrating their individuals! And, for their superstar Kalin Lucas, he has his own Microsite?



Here's the Kalin Lucas Microsite. Again, simple but powerful. It comes packed with a highlight reel, 3 key words that define his game: Leadership, Speed, and Precision. And it shows prospective athletes that MSU and Coach Izzo are going to do their best to elevate you as a player and as an individual. I think that's a really powerful message, one I haven't seen anywhere else yet. (No, not every player gets a Microsite!)



Alright, so let's close this out by taking a look at the MSU basketball page, here. Naturally, there is a strong bold presence for Coach Izzo.com here (see the image below). I'll call out a couple of final things - they offer the ability to "Listen to Coach Izzo" (Spartan Podcasts). And they pump in all access video into the basketball site. It's simple, and I'd like to see more of the MSU basketball Twitter experience pumped in, but there are some great pieces here.



Thanks for sticking with me. We're down to our final 2 squads - Illinois and Penn State. Who's #!?

Andy