Michigan State University Athletics
Tom Izzo Press Conference Coverage
9/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's basketball team had the first official practice of the 2016-17 season today. Head coach Tom Izzo addressed the media prior to practice to discuss the upcoming year.
The following is a complete transcript from Friday's press conference:
Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement…
"It is exciting to be going. It seems, as I said, with football being so in the middle of things, it just seems like too early for basketball. But, at the same time, this is the way the rules are. I think it is still good that in the next 42 days, we have 30 days, so we can divide it up a little bit and keep the guys fresh. It seems kind of early to start, but we are going to have three practices here and then take a day or two off and kind of go over how we are doing. I have been real pleased with our guys so far. We have spent some time with them this summer, as you know and yet we have three guys that couldn't do much in the summer in (Matt) McQuaid and (Kenny) Goins and of course, Ben Carter. Two of them I still worry about a little bit because they were knees and that is Goins and Carter. Both guys have been great. McQuaid is I think 99.9 percent good. Our freshmen have been good. They are not as good as they are in Moneyball (joking). Miles (Bridges) has made a couple of those dunks, so I guess I can live with that. They are really doing a good job. I think ‘Tum' (Tum Tum Nairn Jr.) has been an unbelievable asset in a lot of different ways. Not only is he playing better, but he and Cassius (Winston) â€" there has been a bond there. ‘Tum' has taken some of those freshman under his wing, just like Denzel (Valentine) did. Chemistry is â€" I think you are going to hear from a lot of people â€" it just keeps getting better here the last couple of years. Not that it was ever bad, but it is reaching new heights and that is a positive. The schedule is a concern. I think they figured out it is 13,000 miles in 18 or 19 days. I don't know who has done that, from the NBA to anybody. It just worked out that way. It is not necessarily a huge positive. But, I know one thing: a little after turkey day, we are going to have a little clue… I'm not sure we will have a clue where we are because there is going to be so many big games, but we will have a clue what we have to get better at and what we have to work on. I still think that is the bottom line of the preseason for Michigan State. For other schools it is different. Everybody has their own way of doing it."
On how much chemistry has rubbed off on the younger players from simply from being around…
"I don't think there is any question. A word we have been using in recruiting and a word we have been using around here with our former players last week and our current players now, but I am willing to start accepting is, I think we have built a damn good culture. And the culture is going to have its flaws and we are going to go up and down a little bit here and there. But, the culture is special and I think the guys are buying into it. I think our former guys have led the way. That is why you never want to forget them. Our current guys are appreciating it and I have seen big growth from our freshmen in that area and I do give ‘Tum' a lot of credit. I think he has been incredible."
On if today is like Christmas with getting to work with the freshman…
"Not as much as it should be. I only say that, not to dampen your good question, but we have had so much more time with them than we had like eight years ago or six years ago, where you were going to never see them and then, ‘Bam', it is October 15 and it was this and that. It has all changed so much now. Everybody is starting at a different time if they want. We've had two hours a week to work with our freshmen all summer. We have had the two hours the last couple of weeks since school started. So, not quite as exciting in that way, I think it is just exciting to get into a routine. That is going to be exciting. You have them one week, especially when you are recruiting. Some weeks we went twice for an hour. Sometimes we went Monday and Tuesday and then we are on the road for a week. Sometimes three times for 40 minutes. No consistency in that. Sometimes we didn't see them for seven days because of recruiting and being out on the road. That will taper out a little bit. We will have a little bit more continuity in our practices and I think it is going to be… I am excited about that. Very excited."
On if Nairn is being overlooked on the court with the accolades of the incoming freshman…
"I don't know if overlooked would be a good word. I think he is appreciated by… It'll be interesting the first time you interview Cassius to see what ‘Tum' has done for him or even Miles or Josh (Langford). So, that is part on the court, too. But, has his play been good? He is shooting it better. He is playing better. I think he played better because he is healthier. I think the biggest thing he has got to overcome now, believe it or not, is getting the confidence back. I think last year was a tough year for him. We just look at him and he is such a tough kid and such a strong kid and is such a pleasant kid. But, those kinds of kids have confidence problems, too. I think sometimes he is missing shots because he is not quite there. That is where the everyday practice and being under some pressure to score and make shots is going to help him. With him and Cassius, the neat thing is that we have two guys that are kind of different. One is very athletic and very strong. The other is very crafty and very savvy. One is a very good shooter and one is getting to be a better shooter. One is a great defender and the one has got to work on his defense. So, I think they complement and help each other. I am not worried about ‘Tum'."
On how far back the three players with injury are…
"When you miss six months, like some of them did, it is never good. I won't know that. McQuaid seems to be bouncing back quick. Kenny is really bouncing back quick because he has some experience. We have been pleased with Ben, but he is nowhere physically… he had almost eight months off. But, he is a fifth-year guy. He has been through the ringer. He is going to give us some things there. It is a matter of how much, how quick. We have to be careful with that in the next two weeks. The trainers and strength coach are going to have to be watching to make sure we balance the time. I am not very good at that, so I am putting someone else in charge so that I have someone else to yell at."
On what he has learned about his freshman that he didn't know from the recruiting process…
"They are more talkative than I thought they would be. I thought Miles would be quiet. I thought Cassius would be quiet. So, a lot more talkative than I thought. Still a long ways to go. They are willing to work on what they are not good at. I have seen a lot more defensive effort from them, so I would say that is something that I have found. I think in this day and age of social media, the selfish part of individuals now in our whole society, I see them buying into the culture rapidly, which surprised me. I thought Miles, with all of his stats, has been absolutely sensational, as far as a person, as a student, as a worker, as a learner. That part has actually pleasantly surprised me."
On what he has seen from his seniors…
"(Gavin) Schilling has to really step his game up a notch. He had a great, great summer. He is in great shape, he is healthy. We do forget that as good as Matt (Costello) played last year, Schilling probably would have started if not for his injury, at least early. I keep reminding him that and myself that. Gavin does what he can do. What we have to make sure he does is, does those things great and not try to make him do things he doesn't do as well. (Eron)Harris, I watched old film two nights ago of those four games when ‘Zel' was out and Harris played pretty well in those games. Now it is, can you play well and win? That was the knock. Can he be one of the lead guys and help your team win? As far as how he has been as a kid, if I look at where he was defensively when he came here and where he is now, he went from worst to first, almost. Now, it is going to be being able to score like I know he can score, but in a flow that is going to be beneficial for everybody. I think he has made some progress. The other guy that has played well is Alvin (Ellis). He has played well. I think we have two problems. Number one, we have a couple of what I call great players. A lot of very good players. In those very good players, there is not a lot of separation. That is good and bad. It is going to be more difficult to figure out who to play. The other thing is, when you are playing 1s against 2s, we haven't had a one or two, but when you are playing five guys against five guys, you have a situation where the other guys is defending really well, so nobody looks as good offensively at times. So, that is going to take some time, but we have 40 days."
On what reaction he has seen from recruits since being inducted into the Hall of Fame…
"I was shocked. Nobody jumped out of their door and came down and kissed my ring. Nobody cared. Nobody did any of those things. I was shocked. I was expecting the world and it just didn't happen (laughter). No, really it hasn't been any different. I think I have been here long enough. It is a big deal to me, but I don't think to a recruit many of those things are a big deal. Maybe they are bigger. When kids sign and you get to ask those questions to them, I will be shocked if they say, ‘Yeah, I came here because he is in the Hall of Fame now.' I don't think that is going to happen."
On who he expects to be great…
"I do think Eron and Miles right now have the chance to be there the most. McQuaid is a big X-factor here because he might be our best shooter and he has been out for so long. He is coming back pretty good. And then with Cassius and Josh, they are in here and working. Cassius brings something that we haven't had here in a long time. ‘Zel' had a high basketball IQ. Cassius' is off the charts. But, with that, now he has to learn that, in high school he could get right to the rim and now there are seven footers in there swatting things. In high school he could throw a pass over a guy who was his size. Now, there might be a 6'5'' guy. He has really adjusted to that. He is so smart. He learns from it and gets better. I think an X-factor guy could be a guy like Goins, who we need to be very versatile and do a lot of things. I think everybody would agree, one of things that hurt us in that game against Middle Tennessee is losing him. Not as an excuse, but he could guard people that could do different things."
On if new players invigorate him…
"Yeah, that is a good question. I just watched some film this morning and it is really hard… I talked to Bryn (Forbes) and ‘Zel' and ‘DD' (Deyonta Davis) yesterday. It is just hard because those guys were special guys that, especially (Matt) Costello, those three seniors have been through a lot of wars and a lot of things and have done a lot for the program. It is hard not to miss them. But, watching guys come in like a Miles and Josh and especially Cassisus, that have some hype, but have bought into things so quickly. It makes me realize what an impact those guys last year really had on Michigan State basketball, not just that year. I think these guys get it. I leave Nick Ward out. Nick Ward has now lost 23 pounds. He has been the surprise of the freshman class on rankings and all of the things we go with that seem so good. I didn't see the day he scored 50-something. Was he playing you, Hondo and Freddy in that game? I didn't see that game. I didn't see any of the film on it. I know it is Moneyball, but I said, ‘How can a guy score 50 points?' He can score down there. He is a poor, poor, poor man's Zach (Randolph). We had a poor, poor, poor man's Magic (Johnson) that grew into just a poor man's Magic in ‘Zel'. Now, Zach was left-handed, same kind of body. Nick seeks contact. I try to avoid him in the hallway. He is always looking to hit somebody. I think he too is going to help us. We are going to be deep. But deep doesn't mean Kentucky deep with 10 McDonalds All-Americans. It means Michigan State deep with a lot of guys that can help us win."
On Ward being described as a basketball player that doesn't know he is an NFL middle linebacker…
"He seeks contact. I'd have to go back to ‘Zebo' or Al Anagonye, where I would walk by smack them on the butt because he did something right or wrong and my hand hurt. He is a physical guy. Right now, the problem is too physical. With the way the rules are and that belly-bump ball we get to play now, we are going to have to really tone him down. But, it is nice to see someone who seeks contact instead of avoids contact."
On if he got to talk to Keith Appling at all…
"I did early. I haven't recently. I just talked to his old high school coach two days ago, who was up here. It is sad when you see things happen. What makes me sad for him is when you see the same thing happen over and over. At the same time, sometimes you do become a product of either who you hang with or where you're at. I think that is something Keith has to learn. I hope he can get through this. I think it is really sad, because I think Keith was on the verge. He was that far from making it this year. He had a great year last year and the year before he played pretty good. He was moving on up the ladder, I can only say that. In saying that, I hope things work out."
On if Winston has been able to change speeds and keep his vision…
"That is a great point, because we are trying to say, ‘What can Cassius help ‘Tum' with and what can ‘Tum' help Cassius with?' The biggest thing we could come up with is that, we have our own guy Barry (Sanders) down there with the Lions, who I don't know how fast he was, but he was the greatest guy at changing speed. Walter Peyton, everybody talked about guys that can change speeds. ‘Tum' for the most part is a v-line, straight arrow, quick as maybe anybody in the league. But, because he is not great at changing speeds, I think he has to watch Cassius and work on that. Cassius is not a speedster, but what makes him so good on ball screens is that he can change directions and things that are essential in that. So, we are hoping that ‘Tum' can learn some of that. It is something that Cassius has done very well here. I think he is going to be one of the better ball screen guys that we have had ever. Remember, ball screens weren't in as much 10 years ago as they are now. He is really good that. He is good at stopping. He is good at going. He is good at reading. He has got eyes, not only behind his head, but on both sides. He can see the court as well as you know."
On Langford's ball handling…
"Josh Langford, that is the problem when you have, as I said, a lot of good players. Don't get carried away now. Josh Langford has been… he called and wanted to come here when he got out early in Alabama. He wanted to be here the first day he could be here. We had a meeting two days ago to tell our guys they are not allowed in the gym every day. What a great meeting that is. It is a good meeting. That means too many guys are spending too many hours in there and he would be one of the leaders of that list. He is becoming a very good defender, which he needs to be at his size, because we need some guys that can lock people down. He has very good handles. Maybe the biggest strength he has is that he has a mid-range game. He can pull up. What has been a little more inconsistent is his outside shooting. That has to improve and I think it will. We have been excited about all of our freshmen for good reason. They are playing well, but more importantly working hard. You look at some of these guys academically, they have been unbelievable. You know my theory; I want smart guys, but none smarter than the coach. I have some problems this year."
On if there is less of a learning curve than normal because of the tough schedule early on…
"The learning is, as they say, under fire. There will be no learning. That is the one negative of the way this schedule panned out. It was nobody's fault. It was just the way it worked. Arizona is really good. Then, forget everything else, just think of the travel part of that. Coming back home whenever you go west to east is always a problem. Kentucky, they are just fighting over, is it Kentucky No. 1 or Duke No. 1? It seems to be a separation with the rest of us. Then you have them and then you come home. Even when you come home, it is a Friday-Sunday deal. I am not crazy about what we are doing. That I should go to a negative on today. We have to figure out something with the Big Ten and with these games and the way they are sandwiched in there where you can't play on finals. We have games two days after Christmas. There are some issues there with the schedule that were thrown upon us because of the way the calendar went. We couldn't afford to get a game in after Christmas. Now, that means you have to sandwich that in there. So, we play Friday and Sunday and then leave for the Bahamas. Well, there is not a lot of teaching and coaching time in there. That disappoints me. I think ADs, presidents and even our commissioner, and I have talked to him, we all have to get together and figure out whether we have to play Big Ten games earlier. What we have to do, but we are really in a crunch this year. It just happens to be in a year where we have seven new guys. If anybody wants to make it an excuse, go right ahead. I am going to tell you the reality of this. We are in for the most brutal 20 days in the history of Michigan State basketball, period, when you look at travel, teams played and youth - those three things. The exciting part is, as those guys say to me every time I get a little bit paranoid about getting your rest now because you are not going to get it later. Don't miss classes because you're going to be gone a lot later. They keep reminding me that this is why they came. We will see if they feel that way seven games in. If the right teams fell, I guess the only other option teams are in that tournament in the Bahamas, but you could play against four top-10 teams and travel the world. Five top-11, maybe five top-15 teams, depending on if you play Baylor or Louisville or teams like that. That part concerns me. It concerns me that I think we are cramming so many things together here and we are expected to play in things. If we are looking at student-welfare things, we have to really look at our scheduling and what we are doing and when Christmas is and when breaks are. That should be something you guys look at even more than I do."
On if that is why he doesn't want them spending so much time in the gym…
"Yes, we are really trying to look at how we can keep our guys fresh and how we can stay away from the injuries that everybody is having all over the country. I still say the reason is what they are doing from 12-18, not what they are doing from 18 and on, in my opinion. My opinion doesn't seem to matter much. So, that Hall of Fame thing has gotten me nowhere on my opinion (laughter). We are cognizant of that. We are going to try and do a better job of working efficiently as possible, which you should always do, but I am going to take that to a new level. We are going to try to do even more with film so that we are off our feet. It is not going to just end when we get done with that last game at Duke. That is the ambush 18 days. Then, we have some days and games, but we also have finals. Then, I don't know what we are going to do at Christmas. We play on December 27, which to me is not good."
On if Goins and Carter could miss the opener or if he expects them to be game ready…
"No, I expect them to be game ready, I just don't know how ready. There are no lingering effects right now. We as a staff, more than you guys and our fans will never understand it, because if you don't go through something you don't understand it. You don't miss six, seven or eight months and come back in a month. So, it is how much we can use them to get ready and hopefully by Christmas they are ready to go. That doesn't help that ambush of a schedule early. Who made it? The coach. When do you make it? You make it sometimes two years in advance. Who thought ‘DD' was leaving? We have so many things to look at now that are different than what we looked at, even three or four years ago. I have to do a better job. I think our conference, as far as the Big Ten games, we just have to figure out how you sandwich this many games in a short period of time and still get better and safety and all of the other things."
Closing remarks…
"It should be an exciting year. I think that start is going to be… I have to make sure I remind myself not to listen. I am never a guy that listens too much once the season starts. I can promise you, with respect to everyone in this room, I will not be reading, looking or listening to any of you early on, because I think it is going to be a tough go. That doesn't mean winning games or losing games. That means surviving how we play. It is going to be interesting, but it is going to be fun. If you are following us, you are going to get to go to some places. Some of them you probably won't get to go to them because I know what budget restraints are now. Do I like going to Hawaii for one game? No, but a pretty neat tournament to be in. Do I like going to the Bahamas? Probably yes, because the wife and kids are somewhat important, even during basketball season. So, that will please them. Do I want to play Duke and Kentucky? 100 percent. I think I still would like to be scheduling home-and-homes more. I am going to work on that. I am going to work on the Big Ten schedule in the future. Then, for the next three weeks now, I am going to enjoy watching football and getting my team ready."
