Michigan State University Athletics
Tom Izzo Press Conference Quotes - First Day of Practice
9/24/2024 5:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Opening statement…
This is a little more informal than most opening days because we opened yesterday, and it's so different now. It used to be Midnight Madness and now we have a new way of looking at things. The other part that's different is we went to Spain (in August). Seems like we've been practicing forever. The good news is, I like my team. The first official day was good. Today is day two.
As you get older in this job you kind of realize, everyone's got a job to do, everyone's got a boss to please. I've got 600,000 alums to please.
In that Spain trip I thought we played pretty well. It was hard to get a feel because I had so many guys that I wanted to play, so I kept guys from 12 to 20 minutes. Most guys played from 16 to 20 minutes which means you get to see a lot of people, you don't get as good of a flow. There were some highlights over there. Jaxon Kohler played very well. (Jeremy) Fears was not 100 percent, but I think 95 percent back. (Xavier) Booker in one game had 19 in the first half. I don't think I've ever had a player with 19 in the first half. We played really good against a good competition in the first game, pretty good against a team that wasn't as good in the second game and in the third game we got a Serbian team that had been practicing for three weeks and they were really good. The score was 115 to 110, we got beat. Again, I did not play that as a game I subbed freely the whole time. But I did get something out of that thing.
The biggest thing is I think we are a lot tougher team than we were last year. I thought we got punked a little bit, especially with our guards. I don't think we were ready for the pressure they were gonna put on us. It's not something that worries me. The workouts have been great all summer. Lorenzo (Guess) does a great job with the strength and conditioning part of it. Book gained probably 22 pounds, that was big for him. We'd like Tre (Holloman) to gain a little bit more. For the most part seeing Xavier Tillman and Draymond last week, I hadn't had anyone who came in 280 so most of my guys have to gain weight not lose weight. We made some progress. Lot of progress with Book, which was encouraging. The other guys, some progress. Guys like Jaxon Kohler I think lost about two pounds, but he just leaned his body out and he's been a bright spot.
Two transfers who've both been good. Frankie led us in scoring over there, averaging 18 a game. Szymon (Zapala) is physical, big, strong, seven foot and can shoot a three. Still got things to work on but I was very impressed with him too.
On the progression of redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. …
He's progressed, but what I have in those guards I've been very impressed with. Tre Holloman has been phenomenal, and he's been shooting it way better than last year, so he can play both. Jase Richardson is in the same boat. Jeremy's health is probably 95 percent. He still at times maybe doesn't have quite the explosion, but it's coming every day, it's getting better and better. Phenomenal passer and is continually working on his shooting. Thank God he's a very good free throw shooter. He's made some steps. That was good for him. That was one of the reasons we did it to try and get some guys like that a chance to play. Coen Carr was the other one that had some incredible plays. We got him in the open court a lot. He has improved his shooting. He has improved his free throw shooting. What he's really done is he's taken it to the hole even better, so hopefully those things will lead to some good things.
On the goal of the program …
It's just about getting back in championship caliber. That's the biggest thing I want to see this team rise up to. Last year I told you we lost five games where we were leading in the last two, three minutes. That's inexcusable. Coach has to take responsibility for that, which I do and hopefully we're fixing that. We've done a lot more with the last second shots and working on shot clock stuff at the end and maybe the education of it. As far as college basketball, college sports is a better way to put it. Interesting time. I don't have the answers. You've seen it in recruiting, you've seen it everywhere. It's just a changing phenomenon right now that I think we're all trying to adjust to. I think the coaches are, fans are, administrators are, even the student athletes are. I just hope and pray that we get enough guardrail around it that, in any profession, there's got to be some rules, and if there's not, then I think things do get out of control. So, I'm hoping we get arms around it a little bit, we all get on the same page, and it's the hardest thing right now from a standpoint of where are we? Doesn't matter as much as where is everybody else? What I mean by that is I can figure out where we are and what I like and don't like. I don't know where everybody else is, because so many teams, I mean there's teams in our league that have nine, 10 different transfers. We've seen some teams flourish from it. We've seen a couple football teams down in Florida go the other way from it, and only time will tell. When the rankings come out, I talked to Nick Saban about it before he went to the first game. I don't know how anybody knows who anybody's gonna be.
On going into year 30 …
You know I had my hip replaced this summer. I'll advise anybody, I don't care if you're 30, 40, 50 or 60, don't wait too long, because I feel so much better, I feel healthier, I feel happier. It's a good thing practice starts so I can go back to being miserable. It's been too good of a summer. Year 30 is a blessing. I talked to a couple of those coaches of the years like (Jim) Boeheim and of course, (Mike) Krzyzewski and Roy (Williams) and guys that did withstand. Talked to Tubby Smith not that long ago too. I don't have to be here. I get to be here, and I really do believe that. I hope that all deals are good both ways. This has been a good deal for me both ways. I just gotta make sure now that the best is yet to come. And I really believe that. I love where we're at as an institution. I think our president, AD, football coach, myself. Look what Adam's (Nightingale) done over in hockey. It's getting to remind me of back in the days and back in the days were pretty good. That's the goal for us to be one of those spokes in the wheel that helps create a really strong wheel.
On how the exhibition vs Northern Michigan came together …
I see an advantage of being a Yooper. I called up there and said I want to play a game up there. They said, oh, that would be nice. And I said, I wanna play at the (Superior) Dome. I don't wanna play at three thousand seats. I said I gotta have some place where it's an experience for my guys. It's neat for me.
(Steve) Mariucci and I were up there this summer. We went over and spent some time in the Dome and if you haven't been there, it is an incredible facility. I called some people up there and we started the ball rolling. Tickets went on sale yesterday and it's been real. I think there's a lot of people here that never been up to the UP. A lot of Michigan State people want to go up probably to see the leaves turn colors. My goal is to get there before the first snowstorm. That might happen, it might not happen, but either way it's gonna be cool.
When I was growing up, my first collegiate start was the fourth game of my sophomore year and we played Michigan State at home. They had a really good team and we were the sacrificial lambs, but it was great. That place was sold out, it was packed. There were five, six thousand people in the arena we had then. I want to share my players in this entitled world that we're in right now. I want them to see everybody started somewhere. I think people see where I live or what I drive. I'm gonna make sure they see where I lived and what I drove and how I went to school. If you go up as Jud would say, game Sunday, leave on Thursday, get back the following Wednesday, it'll be a hell of a trip for you. Hopefully you enjoy it. I think my players will enjoy it, and there's some things I got planned once we get up there.
This is a little more informal than most opening days because we opened yesterday, and it's so different now. It used to be Midnight Madness and now we have a new way of looking at things. The other part that's different is we went to Spain (in August). Seems like we've been practicing forever. The good news is, I like my team. The first official day was good. Today is day two.
As you get older in this job you kind of realize, everyone's got a job to do, everyone's got a boss to please. I've got 600,000 alums to please.
In that Spain trip I thought we played pretty well. It was hard to get a feel because I had so many guys that I wanted to play, so I kept guys from 12 to 20 minutes. Most guys played from 16 to 20 minutes which means you get to see a lot of people, you don't get as good of a flow. There were some highlights over there. Jaxon Kohler played very well. (Jeremy) Fears was not 100 percent, but I think 95 percent back. (Xavier) Booker in one game had 19 in the first half. I don't think I've ever had a player with 19 in the first half. We played really good against a good competition in the first game, pretty good against a team that wasn't as good in the second game and in the third game we got a Serbian team that had been practicing for three weeks and they were really good. The score was 115 to 110, we got beat. Again, I did not play that as a game I subbed freely the whole time. But I did get something out of that thing.
The biggest thing is I think we are a lot tougher team than we were last year. I thought we got punked a little bit, especially with our guards. I don't think we were ready for the pressure they were gonna put on us. It's not something that worries me. The workouts have been great all summer. Lorenzo (Guess) does a great job with the strength and conditioning part of it. Book gained probably 22 pounds, that was big for him. We'd like Tre (Holloman) to gain a little bit more. For the most part seeing Xavier Tillman and Draymond last week, I hadn't had anyone who came in 280 so most of my guys have to gain weight not lose weight. We made some progress. Lot of progress with Book, which was encouraging. The other guys, some progress. Guys like Jaxon Kohler I think lost about two pounds, but he just leaned his body out and he's been a bright spot.
Two transfers who've both been good. Frankie led us in scoring over there, averaging 18 a game. Szymon (Zapala) is physical, big, strong, seven foot and can shoot a three. Still got things to work on but I was very impressed with him too.
On the progression of redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. …
He's progressed, but what I have in those guards I've been very impressed with. Tre Holloman has been phenomenal, and he's been shooting it way better than last year, so he can play both. Jase Richardson is in the same boat. Jeremy's health is probably 95 percent. He still at times maybe doesn't have quite the explosion, but it's coming every day, it's getting better and better. Phenomenal passer and is continually working on his shooting. Thank God he's a very good free throw shooter. He's made some steps. That was good for him. That was one of the reasons we did it to try and get some guys like that a chance to play. Coen Carr was the other one that had some incredible plays. We got him in the open court a lot. He has improved his shooting. He has improved his free throw shooting. What he's really done is he's taken it to the hole even better, so hopefully those things will lead to some good things.
On the goal of the program …
It's just about getting back in championship caliber. That's the biggest thing I want to see this team rise up to. Last year I told you we lost five games where we were leading in the last two, three minutes. That's inexcusable. Coach has to take responsibility for that, which I do and hopefully we're fixing that. We've done a lot more with the last second shots and working on shot clock stuff at the end and maybe the education of it. As far as college basketball, college sports is a better way to put it. Interesting time. I don't have the answers. You've seen it in recruiting, you've seen it everywhere. It's just a changing phenomenon right now that I think we're all trying to adjust to. I think the coaches are, fans are, administrators are, even the student athletes are. I just hope and pray that we get enough guardrail around it that, in any profession, there's got to be some rules, and if there's not, then I think things do get out of control. So, I'm hoping we get arms around it a little bit, we all get on the same page, and it's the hardest thing right now from a standpoint of where are we? Doesn't matter as much as where is everybody else? What I mean by that is I can figure out where we are and what I like and don't like. I don't know where everybody else is, because so many teams, I mean there's teams in our league that have nine, 10 different transfers. We've seen some teams flourish from it. We've seen a couple football teams down in Florida go the other way from it, and only time will tell. When the rankings come out, I talked to Nick Saban about it before he went to the first game. I don't know how anybody knows who anybody's gonna be.
On going into year 30 …
You know I had my hip replaced this summer. I'll advise anybody, I don't care if you're 30, 40, 50 or 60, don't wait too long, because I feel so much better, I feel healthier, I feel happier. It's a good thing practice starts so I can go back to being miserable. It's been too good of a summer. Year 30 is a blessing. I talked to a couple of those coaches of the years like (Jim) Boeheim and of course, (Mike) Krzyzewski and Roy (Williams) and guys that did withstand. Talked to Tubby Smith not that long ago too. I don't have to be here. I get to be here, and I really do believe that. I hope that all deals are good both ways. This has been a good deal for me both ways. I just gotta make sure now that the best is yet to come. And I really believe that. I love where we're at as an institution. I think our president, AD, football coach, myself. Look what Adam's (Nightingale) done over in hockey. It's getting to remind me of back in the days and back in the days were pretty good. That's the goal for us to be one of those spokes in the wheel that helps create a really strong wheel.
On how the exhibition vs Northern Michigan came together …
I see an advantage of being a Yooper. I called up there and said I want to play a game up there. They said, oh, that would be nice. And I said, I wanna play at the (Superior) Dome. I don't wanna play at three thousand seats. I said I gotta have some place where it's an experience for my guys. It's neat for me.
(Steve) Mariucci and I were up there this summer. We went over and spent some time in the Dome and if you haven't been there, it is an incredible facility. I called some people up there and we started the ball rolling. Tickets went on sale yesterday and it's been real. I think there's a lot of people here that never been up to the UP. A lot of Michigan State people want to go up probably to see the leaves turn colors. My goal is to get there before the first snowstorm. That might happen, it might not happen, but either way it's gonna be cool.
When I was growing up, my first collegiate start was the fourth game of my sophomore year and we played Michigan State at home. They had a really good team and we were the sacrificial lambs, but it was great. That place was sold out, it was packed. There were five, six thousand people in the arena we had then. I want to share my players in this entitled world that we're in right now. I want them to see everybody started somewhere. I think people see where I live or what I drive. I'm gonna make sure they see where I lived and what I drove and how I went to school. If you go up as Jud would say, game Sunday, leave on Thursday, get back the following Wednesday, it'll be a hell of a trip for you. Hopefully you enjoy it. I think my players will enjoy it, and there's some things I got planned once we get up there.
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