Tom Izzo Quotes: NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
Opening Statement…
Well, I got off the bus, I had a quick meeting with my team, went home, took a sauna and turned on the Davidson game to see Foster [Loyer], not to see necessarily the game, and Shazam. That's the way it works out. I'm just happy that No. 1: we're in the tournament; No. 2: that we are playing better. We just got out of a film session with the team to look over our game against Purdue. The whole gist of it is try to figure out how we can improve the fastest to make a difference. You can't improve your jump shot, you can't improve your free throw shooting, it's even hard to improve your turnovers. What's easy to improve is "Are you screening better? Are you rolling harder? Are you doing this and that? Are you stepping up on ball screens? Are you trailing?" Things that are more effort related or non-skill related. So, I thought we had a really good session. I think our players are excited.

I've gotten a chance and I've watched them (Davidson) a couple of times because I actually talk to Foster quite often. So, I've followed and watched him, and I know Bob McKillop. I know Draymond [Green] and Steph [Curry] are probably having a field day out there. [Steve] Mariucci and I bet dollars, they probably bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on the game. That's the difference in being from the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) and in the NBA. But I think Bob's been a great coach. I know Bob pretty well. He does a hell of a job. [Luka] Brajkovic is the Player of the Year in the In the Atlantic-10 (Conference). Foster's averaging 16 points, they've got four players averaging in double figures. So, I did get to watch a lot. They're one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country and very deserving of being in. When you don't win your conference championship and (still) get in, it kind of tells you how good you really are in some of the conferences.

So, I am more worried about us than anybody. As you know, you look at it when you're at Michigan State, you look at trying to win the weekend, not just the game. But that works easier when you're a one, two or three seed and you figure you're going to get out of the first game most of the time, not all. But we will still do that. You still prepare for three teams a little bit. I'm excited that we're on Friday. That'll give Tyson maybe a chance. I don't know where he's at. As of today, it wouldn't be good if it was playing in the next couple of days, which means, we've got our work cut out for us on that too. More or less, it's the things that I think we can do: post better, keep Marcus' [Bingham Jr.] butt in the post, roll harder, defend a little better, get our running game going even more, and continue the incredible job they've done not turning the ball over and a pretty good job of shooting the ball in most of the games in the last four that we played.

On having any inkling they would face Davidson and Foster Loyer…
Well, some people had made that point that we could be 8-9 (8 vs. 9 seed) opponents, but I think it's nice for TV, you know. It's good for TV. I don't think it's anything we got to go down in their neck of the woods, and he [Foster] probably knows our offense better than we know his. But at the same time, at least I know we're playing a good program that does it the right way. As I said, I've been a Foster fan before and during, and I will be after.

On the ability of Foster Loyer to serve as a coach-on-the-floor for Davidson against his former team…
I will answer this question, but I'm not going to make this Foster Loyer-Tom Izzo. We've got so many good players that deserve some credit. But I will answer that. I've had great respect for Foster since he was in ninth grade. I do think he's a coach on the floor. I think he's as smart a guy as I've ever played against. Bob should use them in their scouting report. He's probably more valuable than their assistants, and that's no insult to their assistants. He knows our players, he knows me, he knows our plays, but at the end of the day, players still play the game, you know? Bob McKillop is such a good coach that, even if Foster wasn't there, he's going to have Michigan State down. It's a matter of how we execute, how they execute, how they shoot, how we shoot, who wins the effort-related battles. That will determine the game. But I hope and pray for all of you that No. 1: you don't make that this storyline; and No. 2: that puts pressure on Foster, too. You're in the NCAA Tournament, it should be exciting. You should enjoy it. I know our players probably felt a little weird. Foster Loyer didn't leave here in a bad way. He left here in a great way. Those guys, a lot of them, stay in touch with him along with Rock [Rocket Watts]. I talk to him every couple of weeks, along with [Thomas] Kiether and along with Jack Hoiberg. So, it was kind of a strange way that maybe that many left in everybody's mind, but it was all for good reasons, and they've all been successful in their own way. And nobody's happier for them than I am to be honest with you.

On the danger of facing a good three-point shooting team like Davidson…
I don't know if it's a danger. It's not like we're a 1-seed and they're a 12-seed or 14-seed. We got a good team, they got a good team. We both got our deficiencies or we'd both be seeded higher. But there is no question that the three-point, if you look at teams that can beat teams, the three-point shot becomes very effective in the tournament, as evidenced by our Middle Tennessee loss (in First Round of 2016 NCAA Tournament). At the same time, if you can defend the three - which for the most part, we've done a pretty good job of over the year - maybe it works in our advantage. They're not just a team that shoots threes. Their post player is the MVP of the league, and he can do a lot of things inside, too. So, I've watched them, more to watch Foster and since I know Bob so well, but I didn't watch them to say what would we do against this and that. So, by tomorrow, I'll give you that scenario.

On if the Big Ten Tournament gave the team a chance to reset and refresh for an NCAA Tournament run, and what he thinks of the upcoming tournament…
Well, I do. But I'd be the first to tell you that - when you win a big game against Indiana or something and then go to Penn State and lay an egg with a 15-point lead - what I told you guys the whole year, I think you've seen the last five nights. The whole country's been a little more up and down. So, that means guys that are supposed to be educated and supposed to have a pulse on things, I don't think anybody's had as good a pulse. But I will say this: after that game (against Purdue in Big Ten semifinals) they were disappointed. We all knew that in our minds Purdue is a little better team than we are, but we also knew that, with doing a few little things, we could have found a way to steal a game. What I looked at this morning is we've played Illinois twice. They're a 4-seed, both games down to the wire. We played Purdue twice. What are they, a 2- or 3-seed? And we've played Wisconsin and beaten them two out of three. Those are the highest seeds. We've played Baylor and we played Kansas out of conference. We played Connecticut, who was a fifth-seed, and beat them.

I still say that we were playing very well early. We went into a midseason slump that affected us offensively and defensively, which was disappointing. We probably ended up a little bit more like we thought. We would be very inexperienced team, semi-young but very inexperienced. Now we have a team that played in the Big Ten tournament and only two guys even played in it (before this year), really. Now we have a team that will play in the NCAA tournament that Marky [Marcus Bingham Jr.] and Gabe [Brown] played a little bit (in 2019), and the next year nobody played in it. Last year, Gabe played and Marky played a little bit, and Ju played very little I think. We're not as experienced in that area in a lot of ways. But when I went over who we've beaten, who we played to the wire, where they're seeded and where I thought they would be seeded, I just think it's one of those years that you could get beat your first game. I got a feeling there's going to be a lot more higher seeds beating lower seeds because I don't think the difference is like the North Carolina and Michigan State of ten years ago.

On his relationship with Davidson head coach Bob McKillop…
You know, I met him probably in a game on the road a long time ago, but I got to spend a little time with him when him and I went out and saw Draymond [Green] and Steph [Curry] play. He was at the game, I was at the game and we talked then, and then he was on the [NCAA] ethics committee and I was on some committees with him … and we met last year, I was at a tournament, an AAU tournament and we sat down in the restaurant and actually spent some real time, but if you talk to anybody he's not only a great coach, but an incredible guy, and he is a coach's coach; he's done it the right way. He's had chances to go to a lot of places. He loves where he's at. He's done a good job where he's at. He's kind of one of those guys that I would say I have a '10' respect for. Him and John Beilein together were on the ethics committee, I think John was his assistant on one of the USA [basketball teams]. So I know him, I know of [Davidson]. And he's had an incredible, incredible career down there. Doing it the way it's supposed to be done. So I respectfully like them.

On Tyson Walker recovering from injury…
As far as Tyson, I have no idea where he's at. I don't hide injuries very much around here. He won't practice today and tomorrow. I know that for sure. Some guys respond quick to an injury and heal quicker than others. When you have that kind of injury … everybody's different. The good news is, the swelling has gone down. That usually kind of makes a difference in the healing process. If it's swollen, it doesn't heal as fast. And you have AJ [Hoggard], with a little bit of an ankle sprain too. And even though he played so well in that game, you know, we're gonna have to monitor that and see where he's at. There's no question he'll practice and play, but I've got to be smart about that. So I'm glad we play on Friday. I'm glad we play in the same time zone.

General thoughts on future opponents and preparing for the tournament…
The second part of the question was about Duke, we do go by after my first couple years the idea that you have to win the weekend to move on, and that's the way we've always done it. So it's nothing new except the way that changes are now with transfers and with COVID-19 and not playing in the tournament. A lot of these players don't know … my wife said "Are you going to have a little watch party?" I said, no, and she says, "Oh, you don't do that here anymore?" And I realized that was a good slap in the face. That was probably deserving and then I thought about it. I think we played in two championship games of [Big Ten] the conference. So that eliminated those two years of having one. I had to sit with you guys and that was no fun. Then we had the COVID-19 year [in 2020] and there was no tournament. Then we had the COVID-19 year last year and if we did it, we would have had a party with plastic barriers up all over. So it's been four years since we've really had a chance to do that, but it is something I kind of miss and I blame myself on that. Because a lot of people take this for granted. You know, it's 24 but I look at it 25 years straight [making the NCAA tournament] because we were going to be in the year that they didn't have it. And that's an accomplishment that I think just kind of goes by the wayside. It's hard to blame you guys for it, because it goes by the wayside to me. Maybe it was a good slap in a mouth today to say I better start appreciating the things you get because, you know, Duke and Kentucky, last year where we're watching, and I got to start realizing that it is a privilege. It is something to celebrate. It is something to feel good about. I will say this in closing. I think our players are excited. I think they've been through the dirt, they got dragged through it by everybody; by fans, by media, and definitely by their coach. But I also think they figured out in the last four or five games that, not only if we play the right way and do the right things, but also how important it is that everybody does their job and that's kind of what the meeting was about today. Can they do their jobs? And I really enjoyed today, whether they did or not, because I sat up last night and I said, "How can I make a difference in a week?" When it seems like there's a lot of things to control or to improve on? I looked at three-point shooting. I looked at our field goal shooting and our free throw shooting and I said, we don't have to improve on those. What we have to improve on is getting back to our kind of defense. Getting back to running the ball, which doesn't take a skill, getting back to rolling, getting back to guarding ball screens, right? And that's going to be the point of emphasis. There'll be some offensive and defensive things we're going to try to do to improve on that. But I think the good news is, as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And I think whenever you go through something that's not comfortable, you either fall by the wayside or you rise up. Well, not many times do I go in a locker room after a game we lost that we maybe even could have won, even though I thought Purdue earned their victory, but I was proud of my team. I really was. I looked at them, they'd played their third game in three days. That pressure on them at the end of the season. You know, people were acting like maybe we wouldn't be in the tournament. I always thought we would have been but maybe we wouldn't. We lost like, six out of the last ten or whatever games we lost at the end. They picked themselves up. I didn't do it, they did it and I'm proud of them for that. I'll be proud of them today. And then tomorrow it's back to dog-eat-dog and we'll get ready for a game that I think we can win. Thank God. The one good thing about having experience and being old or whatever you want to call it … I've been here through a five seed, a seven seed that's gone to a Final Four. So I'm a dreamer. Of all the years … it ain't going to like it was in 2001 where I think we had three one-seeds and a two-seed. That's not happening this year. I don't think, and I could be wrong, but I don't think it's wrong, so I'm going to live by that. It's probably going to be one of those surprise teams to win that first game and then move on.

On potentially playing Duke in the second round…
I did an interview for somebody about Mike [Krzyzewski] that they were going to play for him, they were gathering a couple coaches for it. I said that there's no question in the world that Tom Izzo, the Italian guy, is Mike Krzyzewski, the Polish guy's best friend, and we've been beaten like a drum by them. In saying that, we have won a couple of the last three. It would make me real happy to play Duke; mostly because that means we won the opener. And second of all, in a year where a guy like that has done so much for college basketball. I sat up last night to watch their game. The most impressive thing, I sent him a text about it. Told him I hope some of us can carry on the tradition of, when that game ended, he shook every kid's hand and talked to the two guards for I bet six minutes. I said that's the way it's supposed to be. So, it would be exciting. It'd be an honor. The best part about it would be that we won the first game, because that's going to be a dogfight. I promise you.

Michigan State University Athletics

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Marcus Bingham Jr.

Jack Hoiberg

Foster Loyer

Tyson Walker

Rocket Watts

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