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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 17, 2015Tom IzzoCOACH IZZO: Going to try something different. Start with the best of all, our 18th straight. Excited about that. I think there was a time this year when even I questioned it a little bit, but we'll feel good about it, and then end of the season, we'll maybe celebrate it. But we are heading into Atlanta different than any other years than probably the past 15 years, and that's to try to win the tournament, win the weekend. Game isn't like it used to be my first couple years here. We're going in about as good as we can go in. We've won eight out of 11 and we've won four out of five and all teamed we played are NCAA Tournament teams. We talk about what we didn't do this year, and yet we lost to three teams that aren't in the tournament. So I think we've been kind of consistently a little bit inconsistent but a little consistently pretty consistent when you think about what's gone on. This is the time of year when everyone starts their own zero, I told my team. I don't know which way I want that to be because I still think there's been some good wins and some good play but there's been some discouragement, too. The free throw shooting woes are at least a little bit in the rear‑view mirror. We have done a better job recently. I think, you know, as I tell our guys, we've got to play better, harder and smarter, and we've been playing better. We've been playing harder, and once in awhile, we're not playing smarter, and that's kind of the next step that we have to take. We have to play a little smarter. We definitely played a level of basketball that when you get in that Big Ten Tournament, if there's one major plus, it's understanding what one‑and‑done is, and a mistake means you're out. I thought we Rose to the level about as good as any team I've had because we've had to play three very good teams last year, and we played Northwestern, and then it was Wisconsin and Michigan; this year, to play Ohio State, Maryland and Wisconsin, I think we had to prepare, and especially in that Saturday game, in a very, very short period of time. And to play 125 minutes in 44, 45 hours, I think gets you ready for NCAA play. We faced some adversity, we've shown to be resilient. We've had our backs against the wall when we were 13 or 14 and seven, I think we've shown that we can handle that. So this team has been through a lot. As I told you last week, one NBA guy said to me after that Indiana game: We have kind of covered all the things that can happen in a game in the last 15 seconds. Well, then you add this weekend's game, and we definitely have gone through all the situational stuff you could go through, only instead of thinking about them, we lived them live, and excelled in a few, failed in a few, hopefully learned from them all, and that's kind of what I'm looking to do. As far as Georgia, probably the hardest thing for me, is I have a nephew on that staff who played there as a walk‑on and earned a scholarship, who has been on the staff for three years. Thanksgiving will never be the same, my poor parents. But I'm excited to play them. I think it's a very well coached team. This guy can coach. Mark has done a great job when he was at Nevada and he's done a great job there. He's battled through some injuries and he's battled through a couple players that left early by surprise, and through all the injuries this year, the hard part about scouting them is Toscana (ph) played in eight games, Toscana (ph) played in eight games, not knowing as much about him, it's hard to say about where they were in the depth chart. They played Kentucky two close games, everybody knows they had a seven‑point lead with five, six minutes left, seven minutes left, whatever it was, just a couple weeks ago. So they have shown that they can play. They are a very good defensive team. They run a very patterned offense with a lot of wrinkles in it. They get to the foul line a ton. They got two guys inside that can drive the ball and get to the foul line a lot. They have a point guard that's kind of like a Melo Trimble, doesn't shoot as well from the perimeter but draws a lot of fouls, and they are one of the better defensive teams. I think they are second in field goal percentage, third in field goal percentage, so kind of a lot like us in that respect. So when you get a good team that's got some veterans on it and you've got a very, very good coach who has done an incredible job through the last couple years there under the circumstance he's been played in, we have our hands full with the opener, there's no question about it. Some people thought if they didn't get those injuries; I think they were upset later in the year by Auburn and South Carolina, they would have been a high seed, too. We'll open it up to some questions and we'll have some fun. Q. You said on Sunday you're worried about a little bit of a hangover with just how emotional the Wisconsin loss was. How have they responded since then? COACH IZZO: I think we had it. It was yesterday and it's over. I think we had it. As I say, you know, there's different things you go through in seasons, but I think everybody's been pretty up front and honest about it including me that this is probably not a vintage Michigan State team. Wasn't as tough for awhile. We've improved on that enormously since the Illinois game. Wasn't quite as talented as some, with some of the guys we lost from August till now, just one or two guys can make a big difference in that. And we've been through those free throw problems and to me, to have a chance to win that game and win that game would have been one of the more enjoyable banners as I walk on to the court every night for practice that would have been hanging in the building. At the same time, we didn't get the job done and we are going to have to learn from that and figure out‑‑ I mean, I know why, I think everybody knows that there was some different things down the stretch, some that were easy to see. Some that weren't as easy to see that we should have taken care of. There was some defensive lapses. I think fatigue set in a little bit and we did not get the job done. So I think the way home, meeting after we got home that night; yesterday, we just had a walk‑through and a little film session, and I knew the players needed a rest and so we talked about it. We talked openly about it and then I had a little meeting with my three amigos last night when I got back from a recruiting trip and I think everybody cleared the air. I know I feel better about it, and I think they do, too. Yeah, there was a hangover for a day, which I say happens once in a great while. For players, believe it or not, it doesn't happen as much as it does for coaches. They are more resilient than we are. But by last night, I think it was over for everybody and we are ready to move forward, and thankful that we play on Friday. I think that helps us both from a fatigue established point and from an emotional standpoint. So ready to go today and there will be no more hangovers. Q. What have you seen in the evolution of Travis, both on the court, rounding out his game, and off the court leadership‑wise? COACH IZZO: Well, Travis had an incredible spring, summer and fall. I mean, incredible. He was healthy. He was definitely‑‑ I mean, him and Denzel are the leaders, but I think probably we took that more‑‑ when I was on the road at recruiting, he had taken the guys to a movie, they were going here, they would be going out to eat. Just the things that every coach hopes for with a leader. But I think helpful is the big thing. He spent two summers where he never was healthy, one where he did nothing but lay in bed. So when I saw him, we started working out a little harder in September. He was a different player then. He was making shots. He was doing this; then he had a great start to the season. Then he went through a little tough time himself and struggled a little bit. Then we moved Tum in there and I think we struggled a little bit because we just wore him down. I mean, he had to play so many minutes. There was no Ellis available even for minutes. There was Javon Bess for minutes. Branden Dawson was out some. Bryn Forbes had the broken hand, and it was like ‑‑ Trice and Valentine playing a ton of minutes. Valentine's body is a little more comparable handling that. I thought we wore Trice right down to nothing. And taking him off the point helped because he didn't have to guard the guy and didn't have to bring the ball up. Gave him a chance to give him a little more rest and I think it gave him a chance to come off some screens and be a better shooter. I think in the last eight, nine games Matt is averaging 18, 19 a game. But he's also been better defensively. He's just better on the pick‑and‑rolls. He's starting to head north and south instead of east and west like I thought he was doing there for a while early in the Big Ten. I think he's got his free throw thing under control now, even missed some of those, but he's very good free throw shooter, and he's just been fun to coach. He's been fun to watch a guy who a lot of people said wasn't good enough to play here. If he didn't have those summers, he probably would have been smart enough to red‑shirt him, who knows what he would have ended up. But as it is, the way it is, I still think he's got a chance.  He's over a thousand‑points scorer now. He's got a chance to still do some pretty neat things here and be a part. And that's what I was hoping the other night, him and D.J. could have won their third Big Ten Tournament. You know, do something‑‑ I always like guys to leave here with something that's more than just a memory‑maker. It's something that other people haven't done. Well, I think Travis, because of maybe not getting over‑recruited because of his size, because of his girth, everybody always wanted to see what he couldn't do. And I think he's the All‑American dream of, this is what he wanted to do, this is what he's becoming. Great story. Q. Is this one of your more in‑season development teams when you look at where it was in the beginning, what Matt Costello has done; Clark wasn't as ready‑made. COACH IZZO: Yeah, it was, and we didn't have as many‑‑ we had the three guys and a little bit Costello had played some minutes. But after that, we just did not have a little‑‑ losing Kaminski, who was a guy that played a lot at the end of last year, especially when we lost Dawson for that eight or nine‑game stretch or whatever, so we are a little more inexperienced. Then getting Forbes was great but then when he broke the hand, it just created so many different obstacles for us that we didn't get a chance to grow and we didn't get a chance to grow as much over Christmas. D.J. was out with the broken hand then or whatever and Albin Ellis had just come back and Javon Bess was going back and forth. There was a lot of teething in there that wasn't their fault. So it was one of the more difficult to try to figure out where we were. I kept coming into these press conferences or even at night and I would be saying to all of you, I don't know where this team is at. That wasn't because I'm stupid‑‑ although, could be used; I know you've probably used that about me a few times. I it wasn't that I was, but it was just that I really didn't have a good feel. So I would say that to answer your question, there has been some improvement. Tum Tum has improved a lot. Marvin is starting to improve a lot. Matt is improving a lot. And we think Kevin has gone down a little bit and we're looking for him to step back up. I think Travis has improved a lot his second half of the year. So we're making some progress. It's just been a little slower and it's been jagged. It hasn't been smooth because of the different injuries that we had to deal with ourselves. Q. Personnel questions on Georgia. How important is Gaines being healthy? How different are they with or without him at full speed? And thorn son, is he reminiscent at all of Dawson? COACH IZZO: Well, he's a little different. He can score. What I've seen of him, he's a little bigger and he can put it on the floor and he goes right to the rack. But one thing he has, he has a right and a left hand. I watched three films before I realized he was right‑handed and he shoots well with his left. And they are both very strong, those guys inside, but Gaines is I think their best perimeter shooter, and a very solid guard, athletic, good strength, good size, good build. I think he's going to be a load in himself. Q.  Costello, yearly in the year, even last year, especially didn't get the ball in the post, looked like a hot potato‑‑ now scored over Kaminski a couple times. Where does that come from and can you explain that evolution? COACH IZZO: Well, I think my staff has spent a lot of time with him on his post moves. Matt spent a lot of time on his jumpshot. I said earlier in the year when I was disappointed in some things. I think he spent too much time being Adreian Payne instead of being Matt Costello, and now he can shoot the ball. But his bread and butter, he's actually got a good left‑hand hook, too, that we don't see enough. But in fairness to him and in fairness to us, his progress has been a little slow at times because of the time maybe that he needed to put in, but I think he's really got to the point that it's become something that he really, really enjoys and he's put more time in. We are more comfortable going to him and he's more comfortable when he gets it. That's always critical. You know, everybody wants the ball. But we have to have confidence you're going to do something with it, too. Right now, as you saw in that game, we went to him with Kaminski on him late and Matt hurt his knee a little bit and was slow during the weekend. He got pretty tired at the end or I think we would have gone to check too many key oh a little bit more. Q. Have you had any thoughts who you're going to have Dawson on? COACH IZZO: We haven't. We are going to decide that by tonight. We do some switching anyway. They are definitely going to be two guys that they are similar in some ways, and they are completely different. Djurisic, I've never seen a guy with more pump fakes, a typical European player. He kind of Reminds me of a ‑‑strong Goran Suton, maybe shoots it a little better from the perimeter. He's got all the moves, left hand, right hand. He's got these step‑step moves and covers a lot of ground. So you know, I've been impressed with their team. I guess the best word to use with all those guys, they are very solid and they do what they do, and they have turned it over a little bit more; but as I said they get to the free throw line more and part of it is those inside guys drawing fouls? Q. This will be MSU's 18th year in a row in this tournament. What are you looking forward to? COACH IZZO: A month ago I was looking forward to getting in it. Now I'm looking forward to winning a couple games. That's the truth of it. I think I like that kind of pressure, that, you know, I think our program is at a the level where I think you do have to go down there and win two games, and you have to do it one at a time but we'll be preparing that way. I'm excited because I think our team is playing some of the best basketball it's played. I still know our limitations, as I said we are not a vintage Michigan State team but it's been kind of exciting because being a little different, we can do it different ways. We can score points a little easier. We can shoot the three a little better. I think Travis played great in that tournament, even though his last game he only got six points. Give Wisconsin credit, they did a heck of a job on it. They put one guy on him and almost boxed him. We kind of learned, that's where we went to Costello a little bit more and we went to Dawson on the post a little bit more. We ran some things that we could curl Valentine a little bit more. So we are learning, too. We are learning how to play with Tum and what he can do. So I'm looking forward to just continuing the process. You know, we were close. We were close the other day and doing what we want to do here and that's hang a banner. We got beat by Kansas to win a tournament in Orlando, a game that went right down to the wire and we got beat by Wisconsin to try to win a tournament, a championship in Chicago, and we get one more shot and see where that takes us. Q. As much as where parity is a part of college basketball, can you remember a tournament‑‑ anyone who fills out a bracket who doesn't pick Kentucky is doing it just to be different. Can you remember when you had Secretariat and all the other horses behind it like this? COACH IZZO: That's a good way to put it. No, I don't. In 2009 when we played North Carolina, I think most people picking them but not like this, they were not landslide picking them and watching a little bit of Kentucky the other day, you know, you can see why. They learned to play together now and they have gotten better as a team. But it is the NCAA Tournament. March brings some funny things, positively or negatively. And I just think that I've never seen a team this deep as Kentucky is, and really deep in experience for them because they have got that class that was there last year and has been through it. So it's not like they have guys that haven't been through some of it. And that helps, too. So I've never seen anything like it, ever. Q. Going into the Big Ten Tournament, you talked about telling Branden to play like he did in last year's. Maybe aside from the first few minutes of the Maryland game in the first half, it seemed like you had that energy again. Is he where you need to be to put together the sort of run‑‑ COACH IZZO: I thought at the end of the game, you know, he floated a little bit, too. But boy, 90 percent of that Wisconsin game, he did some things he didn't even do last year, just kind of rising up over people, and making all his free throws or a lot of them in the tournament. I think he is getting‑‑ if he plays with that energy, we are a different team. That puts a lot on ran done and he should be willing to take on a lot now when you're a senior. But there's no question, we need the three of them, Valentine, Trice and Dawson to be at another level. But most of the teams that are playing in this tournament, other than probably Kentucky, need the same thing. They need their best players to play well. They need their role players to play their roles, and then you've got to get lucky: Good whistle, stay injury‑free, all those kind of things that happen in the tournament. Q. Regarding free throws, what do you think is the thing that's pulled it out of you, is it technique changes or how you're teaching it? Is it mental? COACH IZZO: No, you know‑‑ Travis has shot free throws since he was four years old. You know, it got to be somewhat mental that collectively grew with your team. It's like in baseball, you hear those rumors about, you know, if you're striking out, how more guys are striking out, it's just the way it works. It becomes contagious. I think we went through a little bit of that and we tried to remedy it by spending more time. We adjusted a few guys techniques trying to do a few things with Branden, that helped him, tried to do a few things‑‑ still a work‑in‑progress. But the other guys, it was just repetition, repetition, repetition, get more of them in. That's what's so hard to figure out, too; could we have won definitely three, four games shooting 65 percent, I think that's pretty evident and I think we all agree that that would have been that way. So somehow, I'm trying to use that as a positive, because it screws me up, too, as far as where this team's at, you know, what you win by. We have won a lot of games against some good people, and now is the time to put the free throw thing, have it work to your advantage, and also play better in all aspects. We got a little slack there when we gave up a couple of threes and a couple of driving three‑point plays in that last game. There's a lot to work on today that we're going to work on and see now if we can take this thing ‑‑ last five minutes of these games, now let's see what we can do defensively, because that's really where we lost the last game. It wasn't offensively; it was defensively. Q. You talked about having been through every sort of late game situation possible. I know there have been situations where you've been up by three, you've fouled, not fouled. Seems like it has not been easy no matter what you've decided to do. Do you take it game by game still? COACH IZZO: No.1, I wouldn't give it away, that's not the truth. But No.2, I sort of do. When the season's over, I'll be able to explain to you why I did what I did and I think it will make more sense. I can't do it now, not that it's any real big secret but it just‑‑ the Twitter commercial, there's too much Twitter; I don't want players doing this and that. So definitely there was some reasons, and they were good reasons. And I think you will understand them. But that's the hard part of the job. You've got to make some tougher decisions and if‑‑ put it this way, if I had a 75 percent free throw shooting team like I've had often, I would have done things a lot differently at the end. And I can go into game by game when the year is over and kind of show you what I mean by that. Q. You went to the point where you had to scout what other teams do in that situation, too, are they going to foul us if we are down three‑‑ do you try to prepare that way‑‑ COACH IZZO: I don't worry as much about that, I really don't. I've seen teams do it different ways because I think there's a lot of coaches that are the same as myself. I'm not sure anybody is exact science on what they are going to do on it, no. There might be a few but some of it depends on who is reffing the game. You know, are you going to go up to shoot it, and then ‑‑ you could have looked at ours at Indiana, was it a foul. You could have looked at ours the other night when Denzel got fouled intentionally going in for a layup; what was that.       Sitting behind the computer on the radio on TV, you guys have got a lot of problems, you don't have those officials. You've got a lot of problems you about you don't have those guys. And theirs were the exact sciences and that's what makes you‑‑ at Indiana we were trying to foul with seven seconds left‑‑ twice, and informed them and then with 4.5 or whatever. So I wish it was as easy as you think as some of these experts that call in or talk to you or Tweet or write. It's not. And then we had a couple other issues that made it way more difficult to make those kind of decisions on when you foul. If I was a 75 percent shooter I might do it at eight or nine seconds. If you're shooting 15 a game, you might do it with three or four seconds. When you do that, now you've got to worry about how they are going to call it, if it's on the shot, and it will be a fun end of the year conversation where we get pizza and beer and have a hell of a party, I'll tell you the whole story‑‑ pizza and water, I work for an institution here‑‑ pizza and water. Q. You made a comment in January that a lot of teams used the Final Four as a battle cry during the year and you didn't wantthis team doing that; did that change? COACH IZZO: No, it hasn't changed yet. I think the battle try is to win the weekend. Battle cry is to win the weekend and then we'll assess where we are. There's been so much thrown at this team. I mean, not by anybody except ourselves. Just there are things that have been confusing to them. It's been good because it's taught me a lot. I've learned a lot this year, I really have, and you think by this time, I've had every base covered, I've learned a lot. But if all the years that I've been here, I still think I've got a team that cares about each other as much as any I've had, spends more time with each other as much as any I've had, so there are a lot of positives to that. Sometimes I think it's taken till this weekend to see how much every guy cares. Sometimes it's harder to read with different people, and that's one thing I did learn with the loss. You know, watched guys that surprised me. That's a good thing. If they learn from it. If they don't learn from it, it's a waste of time, and I think we'll learn from it, I really do. Now that being said, we're probably not the same talent level team that we've had here in recent years, and so what that does is it makes it more frustrating for me, harder on them, frustrating for you that, we don't get to make many of the little mistakes. There's just‑‑ you always hear this in sports, the margin for error is very slim. With us it's paper thin and yet we've learned how to live with that and I don't think that's pressure. I think that's a goal to try to be mentally and physically better on each and every play. Doug Herner, my old man up there, has got that little poem that everybody's probably seen, "It's Only One Possession." And if you haven't, you should look it up, because we handed it out to our team Monday, and it's just kind of the way this team has to be. And if that means in some people's eyes, you're putting too much pressure on them, every play they have to think, if you want to win a championship; if you want to advance deep in the Tournament, if you want to win the Big Ten Championship, that's what you've got to do. That's why there's only one champion. It's pretty simple to me but I think for some people it's very difficult to figure out. Q. Two Big Ten teams have early collisions with Kentucky. What would it take for a Purdue or Maryland to beat them? COACH IZZO: The funny thing about Purdue and Maryland, they both have two things I think that would give them a puncher's chance: Size and depth. I think you're going to need size and I think you're going to need depth. I love Wisconsin. I do worry about their depth as this tournament goes on. They played that well here; they don't get in foul trouble very often, but you get in the NCAA Tournament, different officials, different this, that: You don't know. I think definitely Maryland has a lot of depth; and Kentucky, they have the two real big guys and a little smaller after that but they have got some tough kids. Davis can cover a guy 6‑8 no problem. So I think that they both have those kind of ingredients. I think Purdue is the toughest of the two. I think Maryland might be the more talented of the two. Maryland has got a little more size on the perimeter. But they do have size inside and they do have‑‑ they are both ten players deep that they can rotate. So that would be something interesting, when you ask, makes me think that would give them a chance. Q. At the Big Ten Tournament, a Big Ten coach mentioned that when they get who the officials are, it does change a little bit how they go into each game. How much does that change when you once you know who is officiating your game? And secondly, he talked about back in the day, you prepared for your opponent and now because of how things are, you have to prepare for the officials, too, and just an added pressure on coaching. COACH IZZO: You know, we find out two weeks ahead of time who the officials are in the regular season. I used to look, worry, think, out‑coach myself. Now I don't even know until I walk out on the floor. Nothing against the officials. There is so much inconsistency and it's so hard. I was talking to one official that did tell me ‑‑ and I should know this because I was here, 20 years ago they did have crews like football. I don't know if that's feasible. I just think it's hard on them, forget what it is on us. You know, if there's somebody that I really know calls this or that I might bring it up to the team but I don't want them thinking about officials and personally I don't want to think about them. I think sometimes a guy who knows that, what are you going to do; tell them you can hand‑check twice? Then you start over‑thinking the game; I don't. I've had a couple of times in the NCAA Tournament not that many years ago where I might have let that get to me too much and hopefully I've grown out of that stage because that‑‑ it goes back to the old line, you control what you can control and you sure as hell can't control that and I think if anybody thinks they can, because they know a guy, maybe that one guy calls it one way but the other guy might call it a different way. It's difficult. No crews I think make it difficult in basketball in the NCAA. In the pro ball, it's different because the same teams are always playing. In college ball, different conferences, different levels; it's very difficult for an official. So sticking up for them, it's not an easy job. But makes it harder when you are sitting there. I try not to worry about it. I try not to look. I just close my eyes when somebody shows me who is officiating. I'll find out when I get on the court. Q. These huddles, after so many games, you talk about things you see in the huddle. What does that time mean to you? COACH IZZO: They are almost sacred times. I think I texted it Coach D the other day before the game, I don't do that a lot, sometimes and I'm sitting there by myself or the team is out warming up early, I'll try to hit up a couple recruits are a coach. I said something, he said, locker room is the most sacred, fun time, and it is. The huddles, to me, over the years‑‑ this week it was pretty good because Denzel was telling me how they were covering Travis and what plays he thought would work, and Travis was agreeing with him. Those things are always worth a million bucks to me, because that means they are really engaged. And I told Denzel, I thought at the end of that game, come willing into the overtime, he let what happened really get to him and he wasn't the same in the huddle. So yeah, you learn a lot in those huddles. I guess that's one advantage with basketball over football, I can think of a lot of football over basketball, but when you have all those time‑outs and the TV time‑outs, you can gauge your team a little bit better. I don't know if that answers it. Q. (Inaudible). COACH IZZO: Yeah, sometimes we're usually talking on the bench, it's kind of funny, sometimes there's coaches who don't want to be in the huddle with them. I like being in the huddle with them. I like somebody sweating on me, it's kind of good. I enjoy that. But I do talk to my staff and sometimes they are talking in the huddles and you know, it's a good question, I never really thought of it that way. But for the most part, most time‑outs, until you get into these big TV games now, they are a minute and 30 seconds now. A 30‑second one, it's hard to get your team over to be able to talk to them. In the minute one, it goes quick. When they are two and a half minutes like they were here, I might take my wife out to dinner and come back and coach the team; some of those are long, they really are. We're sitting in there‑‑ I do think you can learn a lot in those huddles. You can really see a kid's eyes, and eyes, body language tells you a lot. Q. Regardless of how the NCAA Tournament winds up for you guys, when you look back on this and all the weird stuff that happened for this season and how you guys had to pick yourselves back up, were you thinking to yourself, you know what I became a better head coach because of all the things you had experienced‑‑ COACH IZZO: I hate to answer that question now but I'm going to because you asked it. I think that's what bothered me so much about the weekend or the last game. I think I said it to you guys after, I can't remember, I was kind of brain dead after that game, but that banner in my mind would have been as significant as any banner hanging out there, because of what you just said, and what you just said, because you know a lot and some of you know a lot, what I know is triple what you know, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I just mean I know those injuries and I know how hard it was to come back and I know we weren't as talented in certain areas and I know what we went through. That one would have been one if I would have walked out for ten more years and ever was questioning a team midway through the season where we are, I would just glance up and say, oh, yeah, we've still got a chance and that's the way I looked at that. Somehow I'm going to try to use that anyway because there's 125 minutes in the weekend, and I tell myself, I thought we played about 110 minutes pretty damned good, I mean, really did, three days in a row, one day with 15 hours' rest, and I'm going to try to use that, even though we don't have the banner. But I will be a better coach. It's made me think about fouling a little bit more and not‑‑ and I came up with the conclusion on what I was going to do and then I had to change it because of some other things that I know affect that. But it will help me. It helped me in the off‑season. I think it will help our staff. Free throw shooting is one area that you can control if you really spend some time on it in the summer. But yeah, I think I'll be a better coach for going through this season, and I think that's the great part of my job is that they say the minute you're done learning, you'd better get out. Q. You're 60 now but you still learn something‑‑ COACH IZZO: I learn every day‑‑ no, I think that's where you have problems. That's the million dollar statement when you get either egotistical‑‑ as we get older, we get more stubborn. That's why last night I was on the road recruiting, I came back and called my three, I don't know, amigos, superstars, stooges; depends which I'm time looking at them, you know. We just kind of sat in the video room for an hour and talked as people that are trying to do something special this week, not as a coach and as a player. It was talking with them instead of down to them, or in case, up to them more often than not. Yeah, partnership, very good, and you know, I haven't had to do that for a few years, and so it was good. I left there feeling good. Kind of got me over the hangover that took a little longer than normal and today has been a good day. Been a good day and hopefully we can grow from it. Q. Maten you recruited a little bit late; have you seen what you would expect? COACH IZZO: He's better than I expected. Yeah, he's done a nice job for them. I think Mark has done a good job with him and I think he's done a good job, I think he's grown a little bit. But he's going to be a very good player there. I really like him. He's playing I think 17, 18 minutes a game. Like I said, they have had some strange things, too, with injuries throughout the year. I'm just trying to get a grasp on who were their main guys, subs as far as injured guise. It's a little different scouting them, too, by the way because that conference, you watch them against Kentucky, that's hard to watch a team against Kentucky because you're going to do different things for survival and then you watch them against maybe Auburn who is pressing all the time and this team is zoning all the time. Unlike the Big Ten, it seems like there's so many different defenses and things. It's been a little more challenging to get a feel for them but it's been really good and like I said, it's fun to play teams that you have great respect for their coach and their program, and I'm looking forward to it. If we can find a way to win, we get a rematch of last year's, maybe, Virginia gets by. If we don't, then I'm going to have to address the season. There's been so much positives. It's just been a difficult year to coach because of all the things we went through but the reward of that and seeing the team grow and some guys you mentioned grow and take on things that I didn't know if they were taking on has been fun, too. I just want to cap it off by seeing if we can make a run in this tournament. Q. (Inaudible). COACH IZZO: The first one that went up, we were 4‑3 at the beginning of the year, first championship Big Ten banner was special for that reason. The Final Four banner which was a surprise one, the first one, the 2005 was a little bit. But this was I think different in a lot of ways, and plus, we were playing the best Wisconsin team, ever. And we had just come off Ohio State and Maryland. The road there was kind of like the road to the Final Four in 2005 when we had to go through Duke and Kentucky. So that was the only reason. I don't know if there's any other‑‑ I love every banner that's hanging. I just want more of them. You learn from each one, I learned from one that's not hanging; last year's is hanging in somebody else's building.  UCONN was a 7‑seed that knocked us off and just kind of trotted their way to the National Championship. So I try to figure out any way I can learn. I learn from our football team. I learn from a lot of things, but I think to your comment, I know this: I am not polished; I am not a finished product yet, and I am still learning. I think sometimes we are afraid to admit that. We are supposed to know everything. I don't. And when you're dealing with 18‑ to 22‑years olds, I sure as hell don't, and you have to face family matters, girlfriend matters, this matters, that matters. It's amazing the different things you go through in a season, and the more you go through it, the more experience you have the better it is. Hopefully we're going to play well for you all and us all and everybody, and see if we can come back and do this again next week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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