Tom Izzo
Tom Izzo
Thomas Michael Izzois an American college basketball coach. Since 1995, he has been the head coach for the Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team, presiding over a prolonged period of success. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 January 1955
CityIron Mountain, MI
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You have to pick your poison. We just tried to stay up on the shooters and not sag as much on the inside. Dials did hurt us, but he didn't beat us. On that day, they missed some shots that I think were contested. And I think they missed some shots that weren't. They weren't on a hot streak like they are now. They were still shooting well. But, lately, they've been on just a barrage. Bruce (Weber) has one of the best defensive teams in the league, and if they can do that to Illinois, that's scary.
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He is a product of staying four years. He is having an incredible senior year. He's under control more. He deserves a ton of credit for changing his game. I hardly see him forcing his shot anymore. I think he's more of a team guy this year. I think that's one of the reasons they're better.
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I loved the fact that they showed the grit. We went to different guys at different times. Whether it be Paul and Mo with the free throws or Shannon with the big shot and the step-back, I think each one of them did some different things. They can play better, but please don't underestimate what they've gone through in the last five days.
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I'm trying to understand why we haven't been as consistent as we need to be. I'm only disappointed when guys don't play to their potential, and we haven't had enough guys do that together.
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I'm tired of being close this year. It's time we got a few more things done.
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I'm not a big believer that the NCAA goes totally on strength of schedule and things like that, so I think you still have to have wins.
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I'm not a big believer in that. The one time it really hurt was when Ohio State won the thing (in 2002) and got shipped west. That was awful. In that respect it would be an advantage losing, but for the most part winning is more of an advantage.
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I'm not a record guy. I don't need to win 700 games, I don't need to have 20 straight 20-win seasons ... and I don't need to get in the NCAA tournament every year if we're not worthy of being in it. If we're not playing good enough or we can't win a game, it just doesn't turn me on.
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I know a little bit about them. I can't say I know a ton about their team, but I'm happy to know that my video guy's got five or six tapes on them already, so tonight we should get a lot of work done and be ready to go by Friday.
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I kind of respect and understand his theory, because it's a lot like mine. He looks at it like the only way he's getting to the NCAA tournament is to win his league, so if he can go out and play some of the best teams and sell that in recruiting and it makes the university some money.
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I'm looking at this as a miniature Bob Hope tour. We're going to get a chance to bring a little bit of America over to them, since they've done so much for us.
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It's not an excuse. He just struggled as you saw. It was one of his worst games. I felt for him after, and I felt for him that he tried to hold it all in, but it's been a tough deal for him.
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The best news for me is we are playing the best defensive basketball we've played. I'm very optimistic because I do like what this team has to offer. ... (But) I think we're a mixed bag of nuts right now, to be honest with you.
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It was just too bad because I think we played well enough in a lot of ways to win the game, but we just couldn't get in sync half the night with guys out with foul trouble.