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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 23, 2010

Tom Izzo

COACH IZZO: I know a lot about Northern Iowa. In fact, I know everything about them I think I need to know except how to pronounce their names. A lot of tough names. So because of that, I'll be referencing once in a while and trying to learn them. I have Mike Garland up there trying to teach me how to say some of the names.
But you know, yesterday we just had a little academic meeting to go over travel and the week. We had given that day off because yesterday was our day off, making sure that we abide by the NCAA rules. Today we're going to practice. I don't know with how many guys. Definitely Delvon will not practice today. Definitely Chris Allen will not practice today. Chris may try to get up a little bit of shooting on the side. But for sure those guys are out until Wednesday at earliest.
And what we're going to try to do, and I haven't had to do this in my career, we're just going to try to break down some of their things and try to put them into a little bit of -- I don't know what you want to call them, like drill work, parts of their plays so we're only working with maybe three guys -- six guys at a time, three on offense, three on defense. And then we're going to try to do some reviewing of our offensive stuff that we think is a little bit sloppy that we have to improve on, climbing wise and things like that, but it will be more dummy than it will be live. Try to get a lot of shooting, a lot of free throw shooting.
My concerns on Northern Iowa's team are one of the best -- if not the best free throw shooting team in the country, one of. They're shooting 81, 82 percent as a team. I don't think I have anybody shooting that as an individual. And they make more free throws than their opponents shoot, so that's a stat that following will be a big issue, and yet they're a very physical team, with four real good inside players, two of them that can shoot long-range.
Although Eglseder, No. 53, you know, who has made like one three all year, and he made two to start out that game against Kansas. But the Koch, the Koch kids, brothers, are very, very good three-point shooters. One is shooting 41 and one is shooting 38, and when they're 6'9", 255, 6'8", 250, that's going to be something to reckon with.
And O'Rear is another guy that is 6'6", only doesn't shoot it very well, but beats the daylights out of people, one of the most physical players that I've seen here in a while.
And then they've got those guards, and those guards can all light it up. They're all spotting up. They space you out a lot. I compare them to Wisconsin from the standpoint of a very solid team. They're not extend a lot, just keep everything right in front of you, very efficient. But probably bigger and stronger inside and maybe not quite as athletic. They're athletes, they've almost got better athletes inside than outside.
Their guards, though, are efficient. You don't win 30 games, you don't beat some of the people they've beaten without a lot of efficient, good shooting guards, and that's what we have.
As far as we go, Matt put together a lot of great things for me to look at here that I have looked at, and you know, as we keep making some strides into this -- trying to get this elite group, I think we're -- our Sweet 16s now I think is second best in the country in the last 13 years. We are making some progress, but I think individually, Raymar Morgan averaging almost 17, 16 and a half points and nine rebounds over the last nine or ten games is maybe our unsung hero in a way. I spent so much time wanting Ray to be more and more and more, and there's no question right now he's about as stable a player as we have, doing a lot of things, and Draymond is the other one, having more assists than most.
But from a program standpoint, we're getting up there near 70 percent in the NCAA tournament, winning percentage, and that's overall, not during my era. That's during our era. But that ranks right up there with the top five or six in the country. We seem to be doing pretty well defensively. We're still holding opponents under 40 in the last ten games.
And maybe the other one that's going to be critical and that was critical the other day, but in general, are our turnovers have been a lot better in the last ten games with, I think, six of them we've had 10 or fewer turnovers, which I think will be an important part. We feel like we've got to get shots up against this team because they don't give you a ton of opportunities. They only take 50 shots a game themselves, so they're kind of very meticulous in how they do things, a lot, like I said, Wisconsin, and so we're going to have to be as efficient as we've been.
Questions?

Q. Obviously nobody replaces Kalin Lucas, but can you talk about Korie, where he's at in his career, maybe how he's developed this year in particular and just your confidence in him moving forward?
COACH IZZO: Well, since I didn't really comment on Kalin, I made a statement last night just because I had so much work to do, but I probably owe you a comment on him. You know, it was -- I think as we all go through, usually adversity does bring out something, sometimes it's the best, sometimes it's the worst in you. You know, watching him at halftime and watching him on the floor after the game, there's no question -- and watching him yesterday when we sat in a room and he had to get the news that he already sort of knew, and we had his parents on the speaker phone and we had a couple doctors in the room, and going through all that and him having to make a decision whether he gets operated on today or whether he waits until after, and the only thing he wanted to know was how safe it was to wait, and once the doctors assured him of some things, you know, I thought for a while he just wanted to get the surgery over with.
But when he started making comments on I want to be with my team, I want to do this, I want to do that, I realized that, you know, he's really starting to see the big picture of things, and I never think that something like that you want to look at it as it could be a positive for it, but the positive that could be, like every player, when you get something taken away from you, you reassess, you look at it differently, and most of the times you appreciate what you had a little bit more.
And I think the same with our players; when he was sitting in our meeting yesterday, and okay, the reality of he's not playing. Kalin was playing his best ball; he practiced really well; he shot the ball really well in the first game, had the six assists early. There's no question we're going to miss him a lot. But west going to have to have him help coach Korie and we're going to have to make Korie more cerebral and a better point guard in the fact that he's got a lot of the point guard skills. He can really see the floor. It's just a matter of being a little more disciplined now, the one-hand pass -- the two-hand pass instead of one-hand, the understand the game clock, all those things, that can Kalin out there with him he hasn't had to do as much of that.
So we're going to do some crash courses in all that stuff. But Korie has got a playground mentality, which I think sometimes hurts him, but in some cases it helps him, and what it helps him on is he's not -- he might be small but he's fearless. He's not worried about anything like that.
And I think what we feel as a staff, we're going to have to keep him solid defensively because we can't get him in foul trouble. We're going to have to make him a little bigger somehow. I don't know if we're going to stretch him tonight or what we're going to have him do, but we're going to have him keep his hands up a little bit more because they've got some dynamite shooters, and we're still going to run the ball. We're not going to walk it up, because he's good at that.
And we're going to take advantage hopefully of his shooting, because he can get a shot for himself even from range. I think he's excited about the opportunity. I think no one felt worse than him in the locker room. It wasn't like, oh, boy, I get my chance. I think he enjoyed playing with Kalin. But we will miss Kalin and we're going to try to make Korie a little bit of Korie and a little bit of Kalin, and in doing that, if we can get that done, I think we can be very successful still at that position.

Q. Northern Iowa has been susceptible to being run against, but with the loss of Kalin are you concerned about how many minutes you're going to have to play Korie?
COACH IZZO: Well, some of that depends on Chris, too, because Chris will probably do some backup in that area. Kebler will definitely play and Austin Thornton. But if Chris can't go, that would -- we would make another adjustment, so we're kind of adjusting as we go here.
If not, you know, I still think there's an advantage to the NCAA games with the TV timeouts being so long and things like that. And conditioning has not been a major issue with Korie. So I think he can go a lot of minutes, and we'll do fine in that respect. I guess a lot of it does depend on Chris because we could play Keebs at the point, bring Korie off some picks still, as long as -- but it would be better if we had Chris in there, too, because then we have the option of playing him at the point some, coming off screens some, and hopefully Durrell on one side, him on the other, which I think is still a very good possibility. I don't plan on playing the game without Chris, but I don't know at what level Chris will be playing is the problem.

Q. When you played Purdue the first game after Hummel got hurt, you mentioned that in your experience teams win one-for-the-Gipper mentality the first game after. Now that it's happening, do you feel the same way about it for your team?
COACH IZZO: No. We won one for the Gipper. We beat Maryland. No, I do believe in that, and I do believe that two things happen, and I said this in our press conference back then; the team has to adjust to playing without him. When you do it for a half a game, that's one thing. But now the other team gets to game plan against you, too. So I think our team is trying to win some things for Kalin. I think it's going to mean a lot to our players knowing that he's put off surgery to come with them.
I think the tears of emotion after the game and in the locker room are un-Kalin-like. Nobody has seen that side of him. And I think because of that, this team does want to go out and win one for him.
But the other side of it, now a team gets a week to prepare, and they saw what we're like without him. They saw some strengths and weaknesses probably, and they'll try to counter with what they do probably. But you get to this time of year, and there's so much hype for an NCAA tournament game, you're trying to win to advance. Look, we're not going to be the same without him, but I do think we'll have motivation because of him and because of the game we're playing in that we'll get everybody's best game.

Q. Back to Korie, what, if anything, did you see in the second half with him that gives you a level of comfort that he can do the things you need done?
COACH IZZO: Well, you know, in all honesty, I've seen things throughout the last two years, and even when I recruited him, you know. Korie is a little bit like Durrell. He's just got to get a little bit more focused in and disciplined on the things he has to do.
The second half he only had two turnovers, and they were coming at everybody a lot, and I thought he handled that pretty well. He hit some big shots. Korie has been a guy that -- I mean, he's a shooter, and when you're not shooting well, your game sometimes dissolves around you. I heard him tell somebody after the game, he has spent a lot more time in the gym in the last month and a half and working on his shooting. I think as his shooting gets better, his game gets better. He's confident right now, like I said.
One thing about my two point guards, toughness and cockiness is -- they both have those, and those are good things to have, good qualities to have when you're a point guard. I mean, he's not going to go out there afraid of anybody, I can promise you that.
So I saw all those things in him Saturday, and I saw that he had the ability to make a big shot, you know, and those kind of plays sometimes can change your career. You either embrace it or you think, yeah, man, I can make those shots, and the 25,000 students that probably patted him on the back yesterday or today, you take that the other way.
And I think talking to him last night, I spent some time with him after the meeting, and I think he's really focused and understands the job he's got to do and the opportunity he has, and it's a golden one.

Q. You already mentioned some of their size, but with a couple of the big guys who can score, especially Eglseder, how important is it going to be for the young guys Nix and Sherman to buckle up in the paint?
COACH IZZO: Nix and Sherman I think will be critical, because let's face it, we've got to play Raymar at the three, and with Delvon's situation, you know, it's so, just every time-out to every time-out as far as whether it locks up or not locks up or this or that. So you can't go in with a good game plan on that, you've just got to figure you're going to play Ray a lot more at the three, because we could be a little light there, too. And if we do that, then Sherman and Nix are going to have to play more and more and more.
Now, if there was ever a time I felt more comfortable with that -- I remember our first press conference I said I'm going to start one of them, and I was going to try to work them in, whether it be 10, 12 minutes and try to build it up because there comes a time at the end when it might be important. And shazam, here we are, and it is important.
But I thought both of them played pretty well the other day and got a little more confidence. They're a little tired. I mean, Nix thinks he went through four seasons already, and he turned his uniform in twice in the beginning of the first semester. So he's not used to practicing 140 times.
But right now he's very excited, they are both, and I think they realize that this is a great chance for them. I mean, so there will definitely be a need for those two guys with their size where they create a little problem is depending on which line-ups they have in there, if they have the two brothers in there, those two guys can go out and shoot long threes. It's going to be a little harder coverage. And the other two guys are mostly in the post.
So we're going to have to be making some adjustments as we go.

Q. I was going to ask you about Roe, too. Is it getting worse or is it just sort of up and down and you don't know how to predict it?
COACH IZZO: It's not getting worse, according to the doctors and according to him. He has moments. If you try to play him more, it gets just sorer and doesn't necessarily damage it more, just that fleck is that in there, if it catches, it's just more painful. When it's all said and done, we're going to problem figure out this is the toughest kid since Cleaves to come through because he's played with it for quite a while, and as I told you, not telling us until maybe a month ago. As he says, "I'm going." I said, I know, but you'd have to see how he gets around and everything.
But he has done an incredible job under the circumstance. We -- I should say I, you sometimes don't appreciate Morgan until you look at the stats or look at what he does or look at a game on film. Delvon is the other guy because I knew I had a top-five player when I recruited him and I saw him be that top-five player, and I haven't even seen close to that since I have had him, and yet know the reason, but you keep saying, why. What he's done for us in the last month and after he told us what he was going through, incredible. It was incredible. He really deserves a lot of credit for it.

Q. With all the injuries, there might be fewer people thinking that you guys can actually go to the Final Four. Did you have to fight at all with your team, the woe-is-us mentality at all, or do you almost relish this chance now that there are people that think you can't make it?
COACH IZZO: I kind of relish it. It's been the other way for a long time in a way, and so I kind of relish this a little bit. I understand it, too; I don't look at anybody and say, well, how could you not pick up.
But I think we set that straight at halftime of the Maryland game, you know, when I just said, look, I'm not going to BS anybody, I'm not going to pull any strings; the guy laying in there is not coming back. And that's the way it is. Those of you who want to throw in the towel and take the excuse way out, if that's what you want to do, then that's what we're going to do. And if you want to knuckle down and go win one for him and win one for the program and win one because we're capable of, then we're going to go out and not make any excuses.
And since then I haven't really talked about it. I told them yesterday in the meeting, I said, you know what, we just got the final, final results this afternoon. He had gone to the doctors. They had all but guaranteed -- it took until 5:00, 5:30, whenever it was, when they gave the actual reading, but all the specialists that looked at him, it was a foregone conclusion. And so we went through that period again and just talked about, you know, everybody.
Now I'm gathering, as I like to do, different articles from different pro teams or college teams that have gone through some of these things and found ways to win. And that will be the bulletin board material for the next couple days. And I don't see any feeling sorry for. In fact, probably I was as up front with you as I could be on these injuries, but it's probably time to move on now to how are we going to win with whatever we've got, because we have enough good players. We think we have a good enough system. We think we're going to have a good game plan. And the hard part is you have to play a little more tentative because of, number one, the injuries you have; do you have to play more tentative because you don't have the bodies. We're taking out 34 minutes a game right off the bat as far as how aggressive you are. Those things, you know, as we watch more and more film we have to make more and more decisions.
But I think the other side of it is we've done a heck of a job. We've had a very good season. We know how to lay it on the line, and we're going to go lay it on the line and see if we can advance one more game because history says if we can get to the second game of a weekend, we've got a chance. And I always told you guys, you want to be good enough to get to a Sweet 16, then lucky enough to advance. We were good enough to get here. Now if we're lucky and good enough to advance, we will.

Q. When you're coming off of a win like the Maryland game, buzzer-beater fashion, what does that do for the team in general, and especially a guy like Korie Lucious, regardless of the injuries that you guys have coming up? How much does that help you momentum-wise?
COACH IZZO: Well, I think anything major positive, and as you know, anything on TV, anything talked about the tournament, that is what's being shown. I think feel good about it. Number one, you know you can come back. It wasn't even that. It was Dayday's shot, it was Vasquez' great plays that he made. I don't know how many times it went back and forth in that last 30 seconds to minute, but there was a few. I think that gives you some confidence you can do some things. You can look on the other side and say why did you blow a 10-point lead, but I'm not going to do that; I'm going to look at it in a favorable way.
We did go over a little bit how we lost that lead, and man, yeah, a couple -- I look at more of it was great plays by them than mistakes by us, I really do. And so I think it can be a big plus, big plus.

Q. The way you talked about Northern Iowa earlier, it sounded like they were a little bit of Purdue, a little bit of Illinois and maybe a little bit of Wisconsin with some of the things you talked about with them. What specifically, though, can you not have Northern Iowa do in that game?
COACH IZZO: Well, I think get to the free-throw line is one. I really think get to the free-throw line is a big key. I'd say two is knocking down three after three after three. We can't let them do that. And we've got to execute on offense because they do not extend much. They do not make a lot of mistakes offensively.
You know, in talking to different coaches that have played them, I think that one advantage we've had that I think we've had for ten years is, yeah, we want to play fast and we want to run, but we can play the other way. According to some of the coaches, some of these other guys haven't been able to play the other way. That's the advantage of our league right now; we can play that other way, and we have, and we've won both ways. And so we're going to try to do it our way. But if we have to go a different way because of a lot of different factors, them imposing theirs on us, our injuries, our situation, I feel comfortable that we can do it both ways, and I think --
So the free-throw line is something. Shooting 80-some percent, if you're getting a lot of free throws, they're making them. We already know that because they've done it for 30-some games, and you can't defend it, we already know that. So that would still be one of my biggest keys is keeping them off the line.

Q. Two-parter. Draymond Green, where does he rank in terms of intelligent, savvy players you've had here as a head coach and assistant? And watching Northern Iowa on film, how do you see their chemistry? How does that come on the screen?
COACH IZZO: You know, it is a different team because they -- when you watch them, and everybody that's told me said, don't watch too close because, you know, they don't look like your typical great team. I mean, they've got big guys that one of them doesn't move that well but he's efficient as heck. He's their leading scorer. Two of them are big but they're very, very athletic.
The guards are small, so you know, you look at that and you question it, but then you realize who they've beaten and you go from there.
As far as Draymond Green, you know, he has a knack. Like I said, very well-coached in high school, very well-coached at home. His mother still tells him how to shoot and what to do, and ironically he listens. And he just has a feel, an understanding.
You know, I'll never forget it was like the second day of practice last year, and him and Suton got into it a little bit, and Suton was trying to help him, and Green didn't appreciate that.
And then all of a sudden they became really good friends because they realized their brains kind of were on the same page. Suton was a guy that saw everything, and Dayday sees everything. So they became close, and he understood how valuable G was to our team, and I think he's trying to do that, and I think he's going to try to do that with his shooting. I think in the off-season, he's going to come back next year as a three-point shooter. I really believe that. He ranks right up there in the top.
Not in the history of this school -- we've got a guy that's supposed to be at the game this week that was 6'9", a little better than him at recognizing things, but he's going to be right up there in the top five that I've known of.

Q. At times this season this team hasn't listened to you greatly, and Delvon said at halftime you basically said, all right, follow me, we're going to go win and I've been there. Can those moments be, when Delvon said they just -- you refused to let them lose. You come in at time-outs in the second half, you're going to hit some shots. Can these be the times when they come together at the right moment?
COACH IZZO: Well, I think as a coach you can act that way. You have to pick and choose your times. Somebody would say, well, why don't you do that at the beginning of the year. They just become moments, and I think one thing that's been an advantage for me is looking back on my career and getting a chance to be in those certain moments, you know, when Cleaves went down in the huddle in Indianapolis or when he went down at the beginning of the year, you know, and how we addressed things and what we did.
You know, I could tell by the look on our guys' face looking at that room next to us with their guy laying there, I could tell that they wanted to go out and win the game. It sounds stupid in a way because, well, of course they did. But believe me, I can tell when it's not there, too, and there was no question it was there, and there was no question -- I remember in the second half, I pulled Dayday out real early for like 20 seconds if you remember it, and I told him, I just don't have time for you to even question it. I said, I don't blame you, but I just don't have time for it right now. We just don't have enough guys. Right away, he said, "I've got you." He knew.
Does it mold your team to have confidence in each other, us to them and them to us? Sure, it does. That's what those moments are for. That's why it's so cool to be in those situations. And until they happen, you know, teams always come closer together through adversity. Always. Always. I mean, I've almost never seen it break a team up. There's problems that can break a team up. But adversity that you have to go through like that usually brings a team closer.

Q. Did Raymar go to the dentist? And this is the first time probably in a very long time that even if you were healthy they'd be about as deep as you. Does it change things that you're preparing for a game when probably you're not as deep as the other team?
COACH IZZO: Yeah, they are deep. They play ten guys, as you said. I don't know if it changes a lot, though. Like I said, this is the one advantage to the NCAA tournament with the two-and-a-half-minute time-outs. Just think of the four regular time-outs each half. You're talking, even in UP math, that's ten more minutes of rest, or actually minus four, six more minutes of rest. I take my shoes off when I get past ten, so I've got to count better.
But it is an advantage in that respect, and I don't look at that as the only one is in foul trouble because you kind of have to manipulate that a little differently.
But we're not going to win or lose the game because of our depth right now. I'm saying if Delvon can give us his normal even 15 to 18 minutes and Chris can give us something, if those two guys are out, we're going to really be juggling. But I'm expecting both to play. I'm just not expecting how long. That's what will make me lose sleep at night. If I know those two guys are okay, I'm great with it. Not as happy as I would be with Kalin, but we're going to go at it.
Raymar's tooth, yeah, he got it fixed. He was back smiling yesterday. I said after the game, how can you not smile after this game, and I forgot. It's amazing these guys -- I think they think GQ is there instead of Sports Illustrated. They were worried about how they look. I said, geez, back in my day a girl would be happy if you had a little cut or a little blood. It shows a little something. Maybe Raymar comes from a different place, I don't know.

Q. You've endured a number of NCAA tournament challenges over the years, but is this the greatest challenge you're going to be facing as a coach, not knowing the players that you may have healthy and what you can get out of them?
COACH IZZO: Yeah, I'd say the greatest challenge but also the greatest opportunity. You know, I mean, you know and I know nobody is picking us for much right now. We haven't been in that situation very often. And like I said, I don't blame anybody, either. It's as unknown to me in some ways.
But I do believe that we made a -- we took a big step last week, I really do. I mean, even the first game -- the whole week, the practice Durrell had, great week of practice, and the focus out there, the way we handled things out there, even the first game the way it went. I mean, I think we have our best opportunity and best chance. The injuries make it a little harder, but hey, right now I feel comfortable moving Dayday and Raymar all over the court.
Again, think about what we did with Ray. He guarded Vasquez from the start, and he still got nine or ten rebounds. That's hard to do. He's on the perimeter, he's coming back in. He was all over the court. I keep telling him, he's still mad about the last two minutes that he turned it over three times or whatever, and this time I wasn't because I think, as I said, we put him in that.
But I'm kind of looking forward to it to be honest with you. It's a new chapter. It's a new page. It's something that -- new territory. We have been through some challenges but maybe none as big as having your quarterback out and some other guys laid up a little bit. But just think what's at stake. I mean, we're going there, and if somehow -- they always say defense wins championships, or I always say it. I guess a lot of people do.
Our rebounding was as good last week as we've had. I mean, to out-rebound them by 18 was phenomenal. If we can defend and rebound, I told my team at halftime, this is going to be an easy second half. All we've got to do is hold them scoreless and we can't lose.
You know what, if we get a lead, I'm going to probably lose that same speech in one of our time-outs. Our defense has been pretty solid all year. Our rebounding, I guess we're leading the nation again in rebounding, and that's a pretty good hammer to have when you're playing for all the marbles in a 40-minute game and realizing that two 40-minute games like that and you get the biggest prize of all.
I'm kind of looking forward to it, I really am.

Q. You've been here now nine times. When do you know that the work that you put in, the Xs and Os, the preparation is enough and your players are ready to take it from there?
COACH IZZO: It's a good question because it's what I told my team yesterday. I looked at Dayday, and every once in a while Dayday is still in that -- he's a hard guy to read sometimes because he loves the game, but he's so smart, he can pick up things in one film session. He can pick up things in one walk-through, and other guys can't. And so I said, when we were going to go to our third practice on that Saturday, we were going off to Gonzaga and then I canceled it and said maybe they're too tired, and I said, we'll do the free throw thing because I thought that would be a big part.
Dayday kind of looks at me, like -- when we're in the game, we had played Ray at the three almost the whole time because we knew we had to guard, and then when Kalin went down he played the three the whole time, and then at the end we needed those two guys inside and we were playing Kebler, we had our defensive team in there, and they did a little thing underneath, a cross screen, and I said, Ray, that was an automatic switch, and he goes, I didn't walk through that; I didn't know. I said, Dayday, you see why we have more walk-throughs? There's three minutes left to go in the game. Dayday goes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don't know if you ever feel comfortable, but I love Bobby Knight's theory on that. Familiarity, you've got to be comfortable with familiarity on the team you're playing, and the better prepared you are so the less mistakes, then you're going to move more fluidly. You're not going to be thinking, you're going to be reacting, and when you get to that point, you usually play better. So this time Ray is going to -- we're going to walk through it once with him at the point, the two, the three, the four and the five, so Dayday, if he's mad at me, you know why ahead of time.

Q. Durrell has been really good in stretches, but then kind of disappeared, got in foul trouble. Do you think he's still losing focus from time to time?
COACH IZZO: Well, you know, I think in his last two games, I think he's been really good the whole time. Sometimes he's getting some shots, sometimes he's not. Sometimes we've got to take him out because of the foul trouble he was in. But everything is not going to come overnight, but I think what's happened to Durrell is I think he gets it now. I think he understands why.
Now the thing is can that become a habit, and that will take a little bit of time. But I think as you focus in more, and all the attention -- let's face it, we all know we're in the Sweet 16 and we all know there's 16 teams left of the 347. So that alone things a little more attention and a little more focus, and when you had success last week like he had, and I think he's playing for his friend, too. So I'm -- I can say this honestly, I'm looking forward to practice today. I think Durrell will practice well, and sure, I was worried about that, because especially if Chris can't play, you know, and there's no secrets, and Durrell is going to have to be the main gun. But I think he can run him off enough screens and run enough for him that we can utilize him that way.

Q. Your messages, your weekly messages, seem to have culminated and really gotten through in one weekend. They seem to have grown more in that one weekend than through the whole season. Do you see that? And is there something about the NCAA tournament, those lights and that pressure, that you just can't replicate?
COACH IZZO: Well, I think there's some truth to that. I hope that's not the only reason, because you have a Big Ten Championship to win, you have a preseason tournament to win. Maybe next year we go to Maui. I think we have to learn how to do it.
Great programs, great teams do it on a more night-in, night-out basis. But to win 26 games we probably did it on a more night-in, night-out basis than I give us credit for. I won't blame you guys because it's me.
But you're striving for excellence. I mean, you're striving because you know somewhere there's a lot of times you can play good, and that's good enough. But when you get into the conference championships or the last games and when you get into the NCAA tournament, good is usually not good enough. And so that's what you're building for all year.
It's hard sometimes for players to understand. Yeah, you won by 15 but you're not good enough. You know, I think that's where our program is at, and I keep telling them, you came here -- you didn't come here to win games. You could have gone anywhere and won games. You came here for a different reason, and you have to learn to live with that and accept that and embrace it, and then you could end up a special player on a special team in a special program.

Q. With Allen, what has his longer term prognosis?
COACH IZZO: It's nothing. I mean, it's longer term. It's like a pulled hamstring is what they told me. But it was very painful the night he did it, and it's all discolored and everything. But I mean, long-term there's no issues. There's no surgeries. There's nothing like that. It's just a matter of it -- by the end of the week long-term, you know, they think every day he'll get a little better and every day he can rest it it'll get a little better. So then is it Wednesday, is it Thursday.
We can't realistically sit him out from Saturday until Friday and think he's going to be worth anything, either. So we'll try some things gradually, different tape jobs, different treatments. Our medical staff has done an incredible job, and he has been unbelievable. I mean, he was in -- I think he slept with being worked on while he was sleeping over Saturday night to come back Sunday and even be able to walk.
So maybe he's a quick healer, too, because they gave me no chance that he would play on Saturday. And Sunday he was able to.
I think part of it was Chris, and I think Chris has grown up a little bit. I think Chris is learning how to play with some pain, like all athletes have to do. I can't really give you -- I mean, if I went there today and he was out shooting and he felt decent, I'd be shocked but pleased. You know, I'm hoping by tomorrow we can get at least him through a walk-through a little bit more, and maybe if we just walk today we'd be able to do that, especially if he kept his boot on or something. I mean, we're just going to do a lot of video work with him and try to get him prepared in a different way.

Q. Can you comment on the wisdom of the shot -- I think it's Farokhmanesh hit in the final minutes against Kansas and did you react the way the rest of the country did when you heard Northern Iowa beat Kansas?
COACH IZZO: I saw that last shot. You said that name pretty well. I'd take you with me as an interpreter. I got to see it. I saw the last two minutes of that game, and I probably did, like his coach did, like everybody said, his coach might have said, yeah, I wanted him to take that shot. He's full of it. You just sit there and you look at the situation.
But maybe that is the way they played, and yet they don't take a lot of shots, so I don't think it was. I think he just felt that was the best shot he was going to get. It was one of those heroic moments. Was I shocked that they beat them? Yeah, I was. I thought Kansas was the most complete team in the country.
But it was interesting, I talked to Bill a little bit, and it was interesting, everybody has different issues. There's always different things we see one thing -- from the outside I see a team that's ranked in the top five or six in field goal percentage, defensive field goal percentage; tenth in rebounding; three-point shooting they're ranked in the top; points scored, least amount of points scored. They're in the ranked in the top ten of just about every NCAA stat.
But guys don't maybe have as good a years and some things just don't work out as good, and you just never know. I thought it was a heroic shot. I thought it was a great shot. Little did I know then that we'd be playing them a week later.

Q. In the second half when Kalin is out of there, you played Thornton and Kebler a lot. You haven't talked about them today. Where do they fit into Friday?
COACH IZZO: I looked at my lineup out there once, I think it was Kebler, Thornton, Nix and Korie and Raymar, and you know, it wasn't one that I envisioned. But you know, everybody did a little something. Kebler defended very well, and we settled him a little bit then with Vasquez. Austin had some great shots that he missed. He made the one, but he kept the ball alive twice that we scored on, something that doesn't come in the stat sheet but you see it on film. Korie made the big play, and Nix might have had his best game when you look at it.
Now, some of that is always who he's playing against, too, because that kid was a very good player, but the kind of player that I think he can play against, as is two of the guys from Northern Iowa.
We said all along that everybody is going to have to be part of the wins, and I said our scout team has been unbelievable. I've told you guys that a couple times in here, and now they've moved into a playing role, and it maybe brings our team a little closer because everybody was a part of that victory, there's no question. And everybody had to be ready to play.
And now I see, you know, everybody is going to be in watching film because they know Zeke might be playing, Tommy Herzog might be playing. We're going to have everybody ready, and I think this is good for us. It's a good situation for us. It keeps everybody a little bit more involved.

Q. With Kalin, what are the next few months going to bring for him? What do you realistically anticipate in the fall? And real quick on Korie, knowing his role has changed so much, can you expect him to just sort of change the way he approaches playing the position?
COACH IZZO: You know, first on Kalin, what I hear is that he'll have surgery sometime early next week. It'll be about a month to six weeks in a cast or boot type thing where he can't walk on it, crutches, and then there will be -- the rehab starts about five, six weeks in, and then he'll go another four to six weeks probably either non-weight bearing, or if it does it'll be in a boot. And then after three months he can start a little bit more intense rehab, which he'll have to live, eat and sleep it to make sure he gets ready.
You know, they say four to six. There's been some that have been a little quicker, and there's been more than some that have been a little bit longer. You know, I mean, it's going to take him almost through the summer, and that's why the rehab is going to be so important, because when he does hit the ground running he's got to be able to hit the ground running.
But I think, you know, his approach yesterday in our meeting was maybe there's a reason; everything is meant to be, which was a little different approach for a 20-year-old to me, and it was a pretty good and realistic approach that I thought shows that he's making some great strides into the real world. And I think he'll do everything he's told to do, and I think he'll do it well, and I think if there is an omen to it, I told him he can buff up a little bit, he can sit in that weight room and work his upper body and get some things done there.
As far as Korie goes, nobody can change everything overnight, and I don't think we have to make any major changes, but Korie has got to realize that there's a fine line between the gunslinger mentality and the understanding what we've done a better job of in the last couple weeks. We're actually getting the ball inside a little bit more. We're not only scoring in there, but Durrell got some great passes from both Dayday and Raymar, and that inside-out pass where you're squared up is usually a -- is a better shot.
And so that's what we're trying to stress to Korie, that we're going to have to do both, and yet he can get a shot easier than most even though he's small. He has a knack of getting shots up. They've just got to be the right shots.
I think the other thing we're going to work hard on him with is getting into the paint and pulling up. Sometimes he's taking it so deep, and those are turnovers waiting to happen, especially when there's a 7'1" guy sitting in there that weighs 280 pounds. I wish Korie had a little more fear, then it would be easier to tell him to stay away from him. But I think he'll do fine, I really do. I think he's going to have a lot of help. I think he's got a great mental approach right now, and like Travis said to me, Coach, this might be really good for him, and it might be, and I think it will be, and I'm banking on it being that way.

End of FastScripts

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