MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 29, 2005

Tom Izzo

COACH IZZO: You know, I was real pleased with our performance down there. I thought we beat two not good teams, but great team and great coaches. I think both games, as you said, we've had leading scorers that have changed. We've had some consistency. The consistency has been -- you know, I think Paul Davis has rebounded the ball very well. You know, Ager has played very consistent and for the most part Alan Anderson, we've had some consistency. Our defense has been, you know, pretty good most of the way. I think we've taken pretty good care of the basketball, which has been a big plus. Tournament time, turnovers and defense and rebounders are all keys. I think for the tournament itself, we've rebounded the ball okay, not great. Better in the last two games. It was a great tournament for us. It was a climactic finish with the game against Kentucky the way it went. I'm just excited to survive and move on.

COACH IZZO: Well, North Carolina I do think has the most talented team in the country. I say that because I think they can beat you with so many different kinds of people. We had a situation here where we had Jack Randolph, Jason Richardson coming off the bench, a lot like Marvin Williams does for them. You know, maybe one of their best pro prospects. Felton stirs the drink, as they say. Felton is the guy that I think is one of our toughest match-up problems. He's shooting the ball so much better this year than he had been in the past. He can take you off the dribble with his quickness. He can get into the paint, use his strength, and he makes other people better. So he does create some problems for us. We're going to have to try to guard him with probably more than one person. I don't mean just individually, but I mean probably a player and a half is going to have to contain him just because of his ability to penetrate.

COACH IZZO: Well, I think he's going to be very important because the difference that Shannon is learning and Ager is learning, as you move on in the tournament, if you really want to get to championship level and play against teams that are of that caliber, you got to be able to play both ends of the court. I think Shannon has taken enormous steps in his defense, and a lot more steps in taking care of the basketball. He's becoming a more complete player. As he does that, in this game, you know, he'll be one of the guys that will have to play Felton some, as we'll try to put our best athletes on him, sometimes our stronger guys on him, sometimes our quicker guys on him, sometimes we're going to send a variety of guys at him, but Shannon will be one of them.

COACH IZZO: I think it's going to be a big factor because they can offensive rebound, too. You know, the fast break starts with good, clean rebounds. What I meant by that, too, is I think we were a Top 10 team in the country in rebound margin, but in the tournament we haven't been quite as good. I thought some of those teams, Dominion and Vermont, had good rebounding teams that did do a good job, but we're going to have to step that rebounding up another notch to compete with North Carolina.

COACH IZZO: Well, I can't say that we totally expected to go to a Final Four. I expected to have a great year, you know, with the nucleus of the guys that went to the Elite 8 two years ago, with the addition of a Shannon Brown. There had been so much inconsistency on this team because of moving players all around, it was the first year that we kind of got to play players in the position that they were meant to play. I think, you know -- do I think we could get to a Final Four? You know, you always dream it. But reality is it's been a little bit of a surprise.

COACH IZZO: Well, I don't want to be very good at, you know, saying, "I told you so," this and that. I don't think we should be sitting here complaining as a Big-10 that nobody gave us any credit. I think there's a couple conferences that deserve to be ranked higher than the Big-10. But when they start putting a sixth, seventh, even eighth, I said I thought it was ridiculous. We just didn't get some credit. We all played, you know, pretty tough non-conference schedule teams, line Indiana, played a brutal non-conference schedule. Even Iowa played, you know, a pretty tough one and Maui. When you lose some games, you're not ranked, all of a sudden there's only two or three ranked teams in your league. You never get the quality wins. I think it was more because of what they did in the non-conference than the conference. I'm pleased for our conference. You know, I've been in it so long, I think there's been some good teams. Ohio State was a big case of a team that hurt us because they were awfully good but got no credit because everybody knew they weren't going to be in the tournament.

COACH IZZO: Well, I was going to say, I think you can run against them, but you got to make sure you don't just get into their game. You know, their biggest strength is their running. I think one of our strengths is our running. But I do think with Felton they do it a little bit better than we do. And so we're still going to run. But selective from the standpoint of we don't want to be turning the ball over while we're running and play at a pace that maybe benefits them more than us. But we're going to still do what we do best. I mean, I played North Carolina once in the Sweet-16 in '98, and felt like I changed a few things because I was kind of weary of them. I thought that hurt us the first half. We were down big and then cut it in the second. I don't think any team at this point should be changing what they do best. Yet I don't want to play into their hands either. We're going to try to run, maybe selectively as far as not forcing the action.

COACH IZZO: Yeah, I really thought so. It was a big win for us against Princeton to get there. Then we get there, in Greensboro, I don't know how many it holds, 20,000, there were 18,000 North Carolina fans. You know, they had a couple pretty good players on that team, as we recall (laughter). In fact, quite a few of them. You know, I felt like the first half, I think we were down 13, 14, I think we cut it to three or four in the second half. You know, they were in kind of control of the game. But we hung in there. I think that gave us some confidence to know that we weren't that far away. The next year, you know, better things happened. And we've been on a pretty good run. I guess that would be kind of a turning point game to at least go against one of the best.

COACH IZZO: I guess if I was Roy, I'd like to have that pressure. I mean, he's been there a lot of times. You know, this thing about not winning it, I think if you talk to 90% of the coaches, you don't need to be validated by winning it. Validating it is consistently knocking on doors of things, and he sure has done that. He's done an unbelievable job at Kansas, even his years as an assistant at North Carolina. You know, is there more pressure on North Carolina in general? I'd say yes because they've been picked most of the year. Even with Illinois being the No. 1 team, I think a lot of people think North Carolina is the team to beat to win a national championship. And that's pressure. But, hey, that's why you're at North Carolina and that's hopefully why you come to Michigan State. I don't like it all the time either. I don't have that kind of pressure, of a Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, but somewhere in the mix, that's why you're at those places.

COACH IZZO: Well, good questions. What I tell my players in the last seven minutes of the game, if it's tight, I tell them this is just where we want to be. We were maligned for not finishing games. We've done a better job of finishing games. I think we have some confidence in that. What we don't have that some team have is a true, true go to player, maybe one where you just know where he's going to get it in. Anderson, he's done a better job, we look to him some, things like that. It's not like we kind of go with the field compared to some teams who just have a guy that they can put the ball in his hands, maybe like a Felton. Doesn't mean he's going to shoot it, but he's going to make something happen and someone is going to get a good shot. I'd say we're getting better at it. I feel comfortable at the end of games. But as far as whether they're born or whether they're made, I guess, like leaders, I kind of think they're more born. You just kind of have the quality, you have that confidence. I'd say for us a Shannon Brown and a Ager are the guys in the huddles at the end of games, they want the ball, and they verbalize that. I kind of like that, like a Cleeves did. Doesn't mean he always took the shot, but it means that he wanted the ball to do something with it. I guess I'd lean to a little bit more born than made. But if you weren't born with it, it's our job to make it.

COACH IZZO: Well, you know, for us, I mean, it changed so many times during the year. But over the years, you know, I always said it was good to be the hunted because that means you were on top and people were looking up at you. Even during a game, you know, I don't think there's any real difference. I think we've adjusted here where having everybody after you or trying to catch somebody, I don't see much difference. I think in the good programs that have done it for a period of time, people should know that there's going to be pressure on, you got to deal with it, whether it's in the game, in the season or in the Final Four. That's what I'm hoping to get across to them.

COACH IZZO: I think just executing and knowing what we're doing defensively. My big thing is there's not a lot of margin for errors in those points in a game. You can't have a switch error or a non-communication error on defense. On offense you got to make sure that people are in the positions that give them the best chance to be successful. Some teams just have players that make plays, and we're one of those teams that we kind of try to put players in positions to have a chance to make the best play. That's what happens when you don't have maybe the truest of point guards or experience at that position. So that's the only thing we try to do different.

COACH IZZO: I think they have enough depth. I mean, if it was a Vermont who only played five players or six, it's one thing. I mean, North Carolina plays eight, even nine. I mean, they play I think eight pretty freely. With the TV timeouts the rest of the week that you get going up to that game, we don't play till Saturday, I don't think our depth will be as big a factor as maybe during the regular season with the shorter timeouts and the less time to prepare. But, you know, still at the end of the game, if we keep running them in at them, and we keep running people at certain people, if they have to play certain people a lot of minutes, I think it benefits us some.

COACH IZZO: Well, I think it is. You know, they got some other weapons. It's hard to just double him. If they front him, they throw over the top. He's got a great body and he's got the best hands I've seen since Chris Webber. He's just incredible. As the ball touches his fingertips, it seems he sucks it in like a vacuum. I've been very impressed with Sean May. My assistant Doug Wojcik helped recruit some of those guys and knows them pretty well. As I look at him, you hear that, you know, he wasn't always playing hard enough or this or that. But, I tell you what, I've been extremely impressed with the way he runs the cost, what he's done in the post. He's got more than one move. His hands are phenomenal. And his offensive rebounding right now, I think he's averaging almost five a game in the tournament, which is another unbelievable stat.

COACH IZZO: Well, I think we got one of the more complex video systems here. It's one of the things, my football background, I've always been a big fan of videotape. We do a lot of preparing before the game. No matter who we play, we'll have all those teams broken down pretty good. I think it gives us a quick turnaround. I think our first preparation in the NCAA was for Princeton in the second game. I think we got a pretty good system down where when we meet we're our team, and we do a lot of 20-minute segments right before breakfast, right after breakfast, right before we go to shoot around, right after. A lot of things are broken down into 20-minute segments. I kind of like the blueprint we have. It's not as draining. It's more time spent as far as you have more obligations during the day, but less time spent as far as an hour or two-hour session, you know, where you can lose concentration. So I think it's a little bit the video, a little bit the system, and a lot the players. The players are the ones that make the difference.

COACH IZZO: Well, the good thing is we've done it all year, you know. Sometimes because of TV, we played on one-day turnarounds more than a couple times. I think that's where I always like to get in a pre-season tournament where you're playing maybe three or three games in a row. I think all those things help a lot, I really do. And because of that, and the fact that we sell it, you know, and now, you know, you get reputations. You know, it's like I always say, you know, our reputation with rebounding is like Penn State's with linebackers. One of the reputations I think that the players in the past and onto the players of the present is that we do do a good job of it. And I think it's not me, it's more my staff, maybe the system and the players.

COACH IZZO: Well, I have had the privilege of serving on some committees with Roy. I've known him I think since he was an assistant. What I always loved about him is he was, you know, very easy to talk to. Even when he was at North Carolina, I think when I first met him, I might have been a graduate assistant or something. And I think he's been a great guy, like the guy I worked for are and the guy he worked for, that told me he's cared about the game of basketball. You know, he's been involved at USA Basketball, he's been involved with the NCAA, he's been involved with coaches association. He's more than just a basketball coach; he's a guy that cares about the game of basketball. If you ask me, believe it or not, there's not a million of those guys left. And I have great respect for Roy, and he's always been very helpful to me.

COACH IZZO: You know, I don't feel overlooked. I think those guys have deserved what they've done because they've done it longer than I have. I always say that there's quick fixes. I'm not saying ours is a quick fix. I think we're proving we're getting to the point we belong up there. But we're trying to get there. They've earned their mettle. I look at Roy's record when he was there at Kansas. I don't think I can go to as many practices as games he's won. Then you look at Rick, and he's done it at three schools and done some incredible things, been in the NBA. I have just as much respect for those guys, although I do for Bruce Weber, since he and I came in as assistants together, him at Purdue, me here. I think right now it should be for the players. I really believe that. I've gotten many accolades myself. We've been under the radar a little bit, somewhat deservedly so, and somewhat okay with me. And yet I feel we have just as good a chance as anybody to win this thing. There's no question Illinois is very good and Louisville is playing good now. North Carolina has incredible talent and very-well coached. We're here for a reason too. We've beaten some pretty good teams on our way here, I think some of the best teams that anybody has played in the tournament. I think that prepares us well for this game.

COACH IZZO: I do run at least four days a week. I got a treadmill now that I brought into our film room so I can run in there because I can get two things done, kill two birds with one stone. I think in the 10 years I've been head coach, I never missed a game-day run. I have an equipment man, I don't know if he has run about eight Boston marathons, but he's run in all 50 states, just finished last year. He's been a good inspiration for me. Dave Pruder. It helps me a lot. Players laugh, sometimes I'm out running in the snow. But it's just something you got to get away from it somehow here and that's my release.

COACH IZZO: Probably not very fast. But, you know, anywhere from three and a half to five miles when I go.

COACH IZZO: I liked them myself. I think anybody who has done what Mike Krzyzewski has done deserves to have commercials on the clock. I do think there's some recruiting advantage to it, definitely. But, you know, I've also felt like, hey, you earn what you get, and there's no question he's earned what he's gotten. I think some of them, I love the one when he comes out of the bushes, I think that's a pretty good one myself.

COACH IZZO: Well, I think we're getting closer, you know, nowhere near, to be honest with you, my teams of three, four, five years ago. I had about four Division I football players on a lot of those teams that were (inaudible) recruits. The football mentality, everybody thinks it's just rough. It's not. I think you have to have great mental and physical toughness to be successful in any sport. You know, I guess my closest friends, some of them, are football guys. I like the way they do some things. I've learned a lot from them as I've learned from basketball guys. But I do spend the time on both sports. I love going to training camps. I love watching how -- I think a fascinating stat in football is where the head coach has to organize sometimes in the NFL, you know, 12, 15, 17 assistant coaches, and they all become head coaches. So I think they utilize their staffs better. And I think maybe that's one of the reasons I've had success helping guys get jobs because I think we do utilize our staff here. Football has been good to me, not just because my best friend's a coach, but also I love watching the Bill Parcells and Nick Saben, people that have had so much success in the NFL. I talk about it with my team, in fact. I show them tapes of different press conferences and things that I think are beneficial.

COACH IZZO: I think that's the great part because we were always talking about what he hadn't done. What he has done has been unbelievable in one category, and that's he can always score, but now he's rebounding with a consistency, getting double-doubles, what we talked about for a couple years. I think for the last month and a half he's consistently become a tougher, better rebounder, and that's starting to change his game, and for the better, and change our team for the better. You're right, you know, what he's done is he's quietly done it because he's been consistent, he's maybe not putting up the 20-point numbers consistently, but he's consistently been a 15-and-10 guy, and that definitely makes our team a better team.

COACH IZZO: Well, I definitely do. And one of the things I fell in love with Shannon Brown was his family. You know, his father, a very disciplined guy, and a tough guy. I said Shannon will have an easy time playing for me because he's got a lot tougher time answering things at home. It's those kind of guys that I think fit well in my system. Shannon does have some toughness; he has some mental toughness. In other words, he's the guy that wants the shot. He can be having a tough game and he still believes. He has great self-confidence, without being cocky. I think that's hard to find this day and age. He has been one of our favorite players because he works as hard or harder than anybody, he spends more time, he's self-motivated, he's a great student. And I know his background is, yeah, tough situation in some spots, but an incredible family. His mom and dad and what they bring to the table, they're never pointing fingers at anybody but either themselves or Shannon. And that's not the norm in this day and age.

COACH IZZO: Well, I think it really has. This has been an incredible tournament. I heard the ratings are way up. I think the interest, I think that this last weekend was pretty spectacular, you know. I mean, I didn't think anything could top Saturday's games. I'm not sure we topped it, but the dramatic comeback, but as far as 50 minutes of pretty solid basketball I thought in our game was phenomenal. And I didn't get to see all the game with North Carolina and Wisconsin, but I watched it on film. But, you know, that thing was right down to the wire, too. There's been a lot of close games, but sometimes it's not everybody playing, but there was uncharacteristically a lot of points scored in a lot of these games. I think it was good for basketball and definitely good for Big-10 basketball.