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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 11, 2014Tom IzzoCOACH IZZO: Well, it's hard to believe it's here already. But one way or another, I guess we've got to get started. It's another Veterans' Day deal for us, and no different than this one. We're not traveling all over the world, but I think it's going to‑‑ we're going to appreciate still our men and women of the military as it's been going on all week. I think the opportunity to go to the Naval Academy is one that I've looked forward to for many years and finally that will happen. We are going out a day early because they are setting this up in a way where we can‑‑ we're going to get in a lot of tours and a lot of things that we can do on Thursday. I think the biggest thing for us is to see if we can handle now the distractions of that, and still at the same time play an important game. This team is going to be a challenge for us, because they've got five starters back, and they had a kid sitting out last year that started ten games and he's back now and he was their best point guard by far. You know, we've got a tough opening schedule from the standpoint of not always the teams, but I'm a little disappointed. It took me a long time to figure out that with the season being shrunk by a week because of The Masters, I guess, and everything, I mean, we've got a lot of games coming up here in a short period of time. I think from Friday to the following Sunday we've got five games. It's like an NBA schedule. So those kind of things worry you when you've got young teams. As far as Navy goes, they've got three players back that average more than 11 a game, and a couple of their seniors, Venturini, who is from Michigan, and Smith who started almost every game over the last few seasons. The point guard, Dunbar is the key to this game. I think he makes it a lot better for them. He did a great job last year in the first ten games and was suspended for whatever reason. But he was their leading scorer back then, and he'll be quick, dynamic guard. As far as we go, the injuries haven't changed much. Forbes will probably play a little bit because he can play with it like a Morris Petersen did. Not as bad but it's something he's going to have to have the cast on or the brace on for a while. JB, Javon Bess is still out and will be out for sure until after Thanksgiving, probably middle of December. What I liked about the last game, I thought we were better defensively. I thought we did a better job maybe handling the ball screens, in that we thought we did a poor job of the week before. But to be honest with you, I didn't think either team played as well as I'd hope they'd play. Again, you watch different teams around the country, and everybody's going through the same thing.  Next year I'm probably going to end up scrimmaging one and have a Division II team and a good Division 1 scrimmage which might change it up a little bit just because, I think, it would do us even more good. So still a little bit confused on where we are. I know we can shoot the ball. I know we can get the ball up and down the court. It will be interesting to see if we can rebound and defend in the post. It was definitely a benefit to get Schilling and Costello to both play a lot better. Is that because of the competition or is that because they played better? I think a little bit of both. So I'll open it up to some questions and we can go from there. Q. Last year your team was one or two. You walked out of New York City's Madison Square Garden with a sense of disappointment. You're used to those expectations. What do you go say to your friend Mark Dantonio when this team has a legitimate shot at a New Year's Day bowl and ten wins and people are acting as if the sky is falling? You've been there. You've done it. What do you say to them? COACH IZZO: Well, first of all, I'm kind of disappointed my good friend Drew Sharp isn't here. He must have been in the bar for a couple of nights from what I heard his evaluation was. I consider that a little bit more of an educated opinion than most fans have. But that's a tough question. I'm just opening myself up to getting killed, but I kind of enjoy that at this stage of my career. I felt for Mark. He and I talked a couple of weeks ago. With the chance to be 10‑2, 11‑2, that's still one of the top five or six records in the history of this school. I think the difference, I mean, my personal opinion, was it was a hell of a ballgame. The second half it got away a little bit, and I think it's because we didn't capitalize on those turnovers and those field goals and at the first half and against good teams. I honestly thought, I watched Ohio State three times, that they played as good as they could play. It wasn't like we went and got beaten by a team that wasn't any good. I mean, they're very good. We played pretty good most of it. I know Mark was a little disappointed in some things that we did, too. But as far as the fans go, you've got to learn. You never want to learn how to lose, but you do have to learn how to win and realize where your program's at. The next step for him is he has to adjust to being hunted. Players have to adjust to being hunted, and our fans have to adjust to being hunted. It's not an easy task. It's not like Oklahoma this week gets beat at home by a zillion. I just thought it was a great game, great atmosphere, great play I was pleased that we're in the positions we're in. It was a great weekend with all the activities here from first take to game day. I think sometimes maybe players have to adjust to that, the distractions. We haven't always handled that great. We've been doing it for a few more years, because every year there are still new players. Until you really get the tradition where that's just part of it, which we've gotten a little bit there, so that players from the past are telling players from the present how to handle it. But I'm not worried about Mark Dantonio. I think the job he's done has been phenomenal. I would just warn our fans that if it's as bad as you say or as bad as Drew thinks, wow. Ready for the target, get a clue. Get a clue, because you have no clue. Get a clue. But for most of them that I think will be very supportive. Again, I always said I thought the Final Four and getting in a playoff was great. I always thought it should have been eight teams. I think we're all adjusting to what it's like when you have this kind of situation. I mean, we don't have it until the very end, until the Tournament. So if we lose a game to Nebraska with two weeks left, and it's a way bigger upset than this game was with Ohio State, people don't cave in. They don't go crazy because this football, the way it is right now, nobody knows how to handle it. The Committee doesn't. This is new territory, and we're all going to adjust. You add that with the new conference thing, the new who you play once, who you play none, there are a lot of things we're all adjusting to as coaches, as players, and then respect for our fans as fans. But boy, I just do have to stick up for one thing. This is a very good team, but it's even developed into a better program, and that's what I think we've got to keep our sights on. Where's the program at? The program is a national program now that has a bulls eye on its back and has adjusted just fine and will be just fine. I don't have to give him any real advice. I'll give him a little friendship because I think only coaches really know what that's like to go through. Q. (No microphone). COACH IZZO: Yeah, I'm going to call Drew just to let him know, because he's usually pretty bad, but he went to awful (laughing). Q. All right. You've talked about the chemistry and the leadership of this team. You mentioned how much you like the leadership. Is this a nice early test for them knowing that you have a Duke game in a few days after this, not to just see Navy? COACH IZZO: The one advantage of playing any opening game, you're never looking past anybody, especially when you go to a place like this and we know Eddie well. Eddie has done‑‑ I mean, I loved Eddie at Penn State. I just think he runs good stuff. It will be a challenge for us in that respect. I don't think anybody will be looking forward to anybody else because it is an opening game.  It is a unique event. Is it a good challenge? It's a good challenge. It's a little more difficult than I thought looking at it. I'm involved in the scheduling that they say do you want to play this team? Do you want to play this team? And I'm always saying yes. What I don't get involved with as much is the dates. Like I said, it's going to get a little brutal here for what I consider us to be a young team. First of all, six out of eight on the road, but second of all the number of games. I think we play Monday, Thursday, Saturday or Friday Sunday that next week after. It's going to be a lot of games. So we're just going to have to keep our guys focused on one game at a time. Yeah, I think it's a good test because I think it will be a very disciplined, organized team that runs their stuff really well. That will be important that we can defend that. I think the two exhibition games, that wasn't done quite as well as I would have liked it to have been done. Q. What is your evaluation of your two big guys through a month of practice and two exhibitions and where do they have to be by next Tuesday? COACH IZZO: Well, Schilling definitely, Schilling definitely has made the most progress in the preseason. I think he had a farther way to go, but also remember that Costello had that high‑ankle sprain. Missed about eight days and then when he came back, he didn't do much, so Costello is still trying to get back in shape. If you look at the last game, they both did what we need them to do, and that's what they're going to have to do Friday night. They're going to have to play good together. If they play 20 minutes each‑‑ if we could ever get what they gave us this week, which was 28 and 15, I like our chances against a lot of teams. But a realistic, can we get 18 points, 16 points? Can we get 12 rebounds, 13 rebounds out of that position? I think it would be something we're really looking forward to. So they're making progress. Gavin's made the most progress recently, and part of that was I think because of Matt's injury. Q. You've mentioned exhibitions a couple times. I know the second one in particular where you thought it would be a little more competitive. Did you learn maybe not as much about your team in preseason as you might have hoped? COACH IZZO: Yeah, that part's been a little harder for me to evaluate because it would be nice to give your team more credit. You've still got to make shots, but I just‑‑ I don't know. I thought we got too many shots too easy. I didn't think that when you look at St. Cloud, they played awfully well against us last time we played them. I just didn't think they played as well, and I don't think Matt thought they did either. So are we a little better than I thought at this point? Maybe. Are we not? Maybe. Yeah, I don't really know. But at the same time we got to do some things that we wanted to do. We got to play some people. I think it was good for Marvin Clark to get a little more experience. It was good for Tom to realize what he can and can't do. So we got some things out of it. There is no question about that. Q. That time you said Bryn was going to play a little bit. So his minutes are going to be limited with that brace? COACH IZZO: Well, you know what, I don't really know and here's why I say that, with his left hand being not as mobile. You could say Morris played like that. It's a different injury to a different player. I mean, Morris was a forward, and we could, you know, we were in a different point in time. We weren't supposed to be any good. Nobody cared if we were any good. Nobody prepared for us. Nobody took away his right hand. It was just a completely different time before the Twitter era. There wasn't as much information out, you know? I don't know how he's going to play now that teams will game‑plan for him. I don't know how much he can get done with that thing, but he has practiced pretty well with it, and I guess only game time will tell. I thought by this time Bryn was to the point where he might have been a starter, and right now he's ‑‑ just trying to bring him off the bench and get what we can get. Yet we're going to have to see as the competition steps up how he reacts to that. I don't know how that will be yet. So I'm trying not to plan for too much in case the reality sets in of he can't do as much as he'll be able to do a couple weeks from now. Q. Having played on military installations at the Citadel, what do you think the exposure to that discipline, that regimen does your team get out of that either by osmosis or directly impacted by the military people you see? COACH IZZO: Well, I think anywhere you're around people that are so structured and disciplined and then you start going to a couple of the events that they're going to have us going to, where you maybe have a better appreciation ‑ that college life is a little different there than it is at your own institution ‑ I think it's a positive. I think the day they've got a lot of activities planned on Thursday morning and early afternoon, then we get into practice and other than that we just have a dinner that night. So the first six hours, seven hours, five hours, whatever it is of Thursday should be filled with a lot of activities. I think it's going to be good. I've always thought it's been great. We've won some, we've lost some. We've actually lost more than we've won, but it's for different reasons. Honoring them, I've enjoyed watching the NFL and what they've done. I think in all honesty we've done a good job as a sports nation of finding a way where we can give back something to the people that do ten times more for us than we do for them. Maybe all we're giving back is awareness, and trying to let people know what these people are doing. But it's kind of caught fire where everybody's getting involved now, and I'm thankful that we were part of some of the first things that happened in this. It's been great. I'm looking forward to that experience, and I think my players are too. Q. Tying into the question when you go on the road normally, you've been to New York City, and not seen the city. You've gone to Chicago and not seen the city. You've been to Gonzaga and all you've seen is Jundt. COACH IZZO: (Laughing) That's a lot. Q. Coaches lead pretty boring lives, but in these military environments, do you take the time to smell the coffee outside of basketball more than you normally do? COACH IZZO: You know, I did over in Europe when we went there. I guess I did in the aircraft carrier, the day before you spend a little time. This thing where it's organized and set up for us, and I think this is going to be a tradition there. And if it is, I think Eddie will do a heck of a job. I think it's going to be great, and it will give me a chance to look at it a little bit. You do have the concerns of making sure your players focus in, but that is just like a Final Four or an Elite 8, Sweet 16 where there is all kind of folderol going on around you, and you've got to learn to focus in on the task at hand. So it will be good prep for that, too, I'm sure. Q. First of all, it would appear in watching your players that you may have the best listening team you've had in a long time. Before I ask a second; is that accurate? COACH IZZO: Yeah, I think it is. I think this team with Trice and Valentine leading the way, and really B.J. has been great, and Costello and Schilling, once in a while they're better students than some. They don't listen as much, they know where I'm from, and they figure they know more than I do. But in all honesty, they've all been better. The freshmen have been like sponges, so I'd say that's a fair assessment. Q. Having said that, Knight talked about after his career looking back at things, I'm wondering, when you have a group that listens intently and wants to please you, do you almost have to cut back on yelling or being overly critical just because they listen so well that maybe they won't take it in the right sense? I mean, is that something‑‑ I'm just curious, because you've been there. You're a Hall‑of‑Fame Coach. Your thought process there? COACH IZZO: I don't think you can be somebody you're not, No. 1. But I do think that what players don't understand and people don't understand, but as a parent and anything else, if you tell your kids to do something once, and they do it wrong, you live with them. If you tell them twice and they do something wrong, you live with them. You get to three, four, five times, you don't live with them. I don't live with Steven any different than I live with Denzel. It is what it is, and I don't think most of you do. It's just that keeping kids focused in on what they've got to do and realizing that what you're telling them to do is trying to make them something that they want to be. They just have no clue on how in the hell to get there. And that clue is getting wider right now if you ask me. So holding kids accountable, if people would only realize the only thing you're doing is holding them accountable to their dreams and goals, not mine. That's where I think I feel very comfortable in my own skin is I'm trying to do‑‑ they ask me, they tell me what they want to be. I mean, if you want to be a scientist, you maybe don't take all kinds of foreign language classes. You home in on the math and sciences. And that's kind of like it is for me. If they want to be great basketball players, you've got to home in on that. If you don't want to home in on that, then there is going to be a problem. Until you decide to change your goals, my job is to hold you accountable to them. I don't know why that's so difficult. I don't know why it's so difficult for people to understand. I mean, I never understood that. Because I've got a better listening team, they should learn better. That means they should make the same mistakes less often. And if they do that, we're going to be a better team. You're going to find out that when a coach knows that a kid is doing what he can do to accomplish the objective of the kid and the program, then you don't have any confrontation. If they're not, they're going to get it here. Q. Just on Forbes, again on the timeframe, how long exactly do you think he'll have? You don't know? COACH IZZO: I don't know. It's not like Dawson's. They couldn't even find it for a while. It's a very small, I don't even want to say a fracture. Like a little chip moved. But it was causing some pain and discomfort. It was causing so he didn't have the strength to pass the ball with that hand. I think he's doing a lot better now, and I don't think this is going to be a two, three‑week deal, but I don't think it's going to be off this week either. Is he going to play with that against Navy, against Duke, and then maybe the next week? Probably. But I'm such an‑‑ injuries to me, I mean, I'm glad I'm not in medicine, that's all I can say. Hey, you won't be so good either, brother. Q. Just on Denzel, you've talked about how much he's worked on different things. Do you look at his long‑term outlook differently based on the way he‑‑ in other words, as a pro some day? COACH IZZO: Oh, some day I definitely think he is. I always thought he had a chance to be. What we've got to make sure we do‑‑ now, don't be a fan. You guys are with us day to day, and I don't mean that negatively to fans, but we played two exhibition games against competition that's not the quality of what we're going to play Friday night, Tuesday night or any other night the whole year. And that's not insulting to them either. That's why they have Division I, II, and III. Take it from a guy who played at that level. It's a little different. But those are the things that I think are the hardest for us. I mean, I have no clue, but I can imagine what you thumbless people are doing and reading and everything now because, you know, you have a triple‑double, how many have we had? Eight in the history of our school? That's even more than I thought. So that puts you at a different position. And trust me on this, to do it, if you're doing it against Division VI or Division I, it's difficult because it means you're skilled in a lot of areas. Denzel has played really, really, really well. And yet now teams will start game‑planning for that, and they'll be doing some different things. They don't have much scouting reports on us either, and now they will. I think we'll learn a lot about where he is now, too, in the next couple of weeks. But to complement what you're saying, that guy has worked. I mean, those of you that are ‑‑ all 90% of you are from Lansing area, and that kid has worked harder. I mean, if you're talking to anybody on the streets, there is no way that anybody that I've had has maybe worked harder than Denzel. I think I've had some pretty hard‑working guys over the years. But he's watching film. He is what he is. He's a coach's son, and his dad is harder on him than his coach. That is a pretty good combination for success, if you ask me because that isn't the case most of the time. I give credit to Denzel. I give credit to his dad. I give credit to his brother. His brother has done a nice job in the role he's at. But it's hard to get carried away by the two exhibition games, but it's hard to downplay it either. Do I see him as a guy that the day will come where I think he'll be playing four or five times a week? Yes, I do. I really do. Q. Marvin Clark to me looked less lost in the second game than he did in the first game. Is he to the point where you're going to use him? Is his skill set‑‑ COACH IZZO: I think he played the least minutes of the nine. As I look back over the two games he played an average of 14 minutes a game. He's definitely the strongest player on our team. He's not the toughest. What I mean by that is that's one of his, you know, I've got to find some guys with a little more dog in them. Marvin is a nice kid, and he's got to get a little more dog in him. But he's starting to pick up things better. I'd say that's a very good evaluation, less lost. I mean, the first game he was kind of a deer in the headlights, and I think he made some strides the second time. I was excited about that. He practiced well the next day. Looking forward to today's practices since we had yesterday off. See how he does today. Yeah, he's a guy that I think is moving up on the list. The only problem we have is trying to move him and B.J. around a little bit because he hasn't picked up things quite as well yet, so I'D hate to move him positions because I could use that right now with J.B. being out and the question marks on Bryn. Q. With your 20th season approaching, with the regular season starting off on Friday, is that something that you put significance in, considering‑‑ COACH IZZO: Yeah, especially considering that nobody lasts that long, I guess or not many. I never thought about it until everybody started making a big deal about 20, and then 20 is just a number. What is the difference from 19? It's one year different. But for some reason it's a milestone period or time. When you look around the country, I guess what makes me feel good is we've been able to consistently hang in that pretty solid way of running our program. So that's the significance of it. The years, I don't know, you know, like I said, I know guys in here with 39 years, 35 years. They just became head coaches earlier. But I think anybody that stays in the same place, God, I think ten years anymore is getting harder, if you look around the nation who has stayed. But 20 is a pretty good number. 25 would be a better number if we can keep doing what we're doing. Q. Back when it was announced that Detroit was going to be a Final Four, I don't know if you remembered this conversation, but you were with me and Joe after practice walking up the steps and you talked about, "Boy, that may be a good time to go." And you spoke to us and said, "I'm not Jud. I'm not a lifer. I'm not going to be here." Now you're talking about maybe 25. I'm curious, you've turned down multiple NBA jobs now. So now are you becoming Jud? Are you more fitting into that which you most despise? COACH IZZO: No, I'm not becoming Jud. I say that with reference. But, you know, it all comes down to how you feel and where the program is at and what's going on. I feel great. The program, I think we're back in an upswing. I think we're doing what we're doing. The young players we've got, who we've got in next year. I think we're moving forward. Now, that doesn't mean the day I do get out it's not because we're going to be going backwards. That would be the last place I'd want to do this because of what this place has done for me. But I think I'm so honest with all of you guys, especially some of you that have been around. Leaving would not be because of burnout or fatigue or not doing my job. It would be because if I don't like the direction things are going and things like that. And I said, there are issues with college sports right now. You guys write about them every day, and I agree with mostly what you write, other than Drew. But I really do. I don't know where that puts me, but it puts me where I'm still fighting the boards and different things to see where we can get college basketball and now college sports, and with our president on that committee, with Mark Hollis now and so much more influential, I think you're going to see Mark Dantonio. There have to be some things that we figure out with this system. We're all learning new things with this conference the way that's gone, and it's going to be interesting to see all the travel and all of that. There are so many new things happening that I'm happy where I'm at. I like what I'm doing. I'm frustrated over some situations. But I'm probably not going to let frustration over situations get me down. There will be frustrations if I'm not getting the job done. That will be my time to bolt. Before Louis does though, right, Louis? He's a guy that's lost all the weight he does. I'm proud of you, man. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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