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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURMarch 30, 2015Tom IzzoINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA DAVE WORLOCK: Coach Izzo, thank you for your time and congratulations. We will be respectful of your time and get started right away with questions. COACH IZZO: I appreciate it. DAVE WORLOCK: We will now turn the call over for questions to Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. Q. Coach, a big‑picture question. There's a perception that in the last couple of years scoring has kind of slowed, pace of the game has slowed in college basketball. Do you feel like that changes in the post‑season, and if so why? COACH IZZO: Well, I don't know. I've seen so many things about the scoring thing. We keep tweaking things. Some is good, some is bad to me. I think what's happened is the freedom of movement stuff has probably been good for the game, but I think we went too far overboard, in my opinion. When you do that, you're getting more teams that zone. More teams that zone means that's going to slow the pace down in itself. You also get more of your best players on the bench, and that's going to change the scoring. I think every time we tweak it, I know we're trying to find what's right. I'm not saying I have the solution, but I think we've taken the freedom of movement too far. We're not allowed to touch a guy outside, then we're putting a lot of pressure on officials to make these block charge calls again, which I don't like at all. I think the tweaking is you got to do some finding out. I think, as always, when a new rule comes in, we go so far, we put a lot of pressure on the officials. Not very often in my life do I feel sorry for them, but I do in this case. Q. This seems like the top head coaches in the Final Four this year. We rarely ever have that. Can you explain the Mount Rushmore that is this year's Final Four. COACH IZZO: That's a privilege to be part of that. I'm not sure, we just beat Rick Pitino, who is not there. When you look at Bo, a team they had coming back, it's tough to do what they did and what Kentucky did because they were both there last year. The job Mike has done over the years, he's been there so many times with so many different kinds of teams, that's not surprising. We've been a little bit more the surprise team, I guess. But I'm not sure we were as bad as maybe it seemed during the year. We just lost some games because we missed some free throws. It's a privilege and an honor to be in the class with the people that are there. I think you got a lot of coaches that have worked hard to get there and put in their time, put in their years, been graduate assistants on up. That makes it great because I know I have great respect for the other three coaches that are in here. Q. It seemed more like a personal accomplishment for you and your team really that you were able to get to this Final Four after so many people were not picking you to get there. What was it about this year that made it so different? COACH IZZO: I think when you lose a lot of games shooting 55% from the line, about four different losses, when you played in seven overtime games up till yesterday, you lost five of them, that means you were right there. You can look at it like, Well, better coaching, better play would get you to win those close games. I thought we did a heck of a job just to get in those close games early on when we were messing with our lineup and we had a lot of injuries early. I am proud of this team. I'm extremely proud. I think we got three exception players in Valentine, Trice and Dawson. The other guys have started to fit in. It really has been a year that I appreciated just because we weren't. But then again, last year we were picked by the President and everyone else, and we didn't get out of the Elite 8. It doesn't matter who picks us and who doesn't, I just appreciate the respect our program has gotten.  Being where we are this year, I think we're still respected, and that's all that matters to me. Q. Coach, I know yesterday you were talking about how you'd like to say there were plenty of times where you thought this was possible during the year, but you'd be lying if that were the case. It was Urban Meyer earlier this year talking about his team and said he never thought that something was really special until they beat Penn State in overtime, then he thought, We've got something special here. Was there a game or a period of time where you suddenly thought, This might be a little bit more special than I even thought? COACH IZZO: You know, there was. That's interesting that Urban said that. Penn State, they were a good team, but they weren't an elite team. I felt the same way. We played Illinois at home and got beat. I thought they just took it to us. Then we went on the road to Northwestern. We had Ohio State, at Michigan, at Illinois. We won all four of those games. I think we displayed a lot more toughness. We weren't a very physical team, still aren't the most physical, compared to some of our teams. We gained a little confidence. We gained a little toughness during that stretch. I thought that turned us a little bit. Then we won a couple games at the end of the year against Purdue, at Indiana, without Branden Dawson. I think we gained a little momentum there. I think sometimes if you're a good team, the Big Ten tournament, the tournaments at the end of the year aren't as good. For us to play Ohio State, Maryland and then Wisconsin, and probably play of the 120 minutes, probably 105 to 110 really good minutes, I think is what really helped us. Even though we didn't beat Wisconsin, that wasn't a moral victory, but I think it was an educational loss. I know we learned a lot about ourselves, some things we did wrong, some things we did right. We went into the tournament with a lot of confidence. Probably back around the beginning or early in February is when I said, This team has a chance to make a run. Did I think it would be this deep a run? No, I can't say I did. But I'm very proud. That's what makes me prouder of them. They even surprised me a little bit. Q. This is your seventh Final Four since 1999, which is pretty much the most of any coach over that time period. Do you feel any sense of pressure with sort of that historical background? COACH IZZO: If I did, I wouldn't use it. I think guys like John Calipari have been under pressure all year. Even Bo, because of the team he had coming back. If it is pressure, it sure is good pressure to know that you've been to that many when there's so many great coaches that haven't had a chance to do it. I don't feel entitled, that's for sure. But I don't look at it as pressure. I look at it as a great feat to be involved with so many coaches that have been to many of them. John has been to more than a couple now. Bo has now been to two. As far as Mike, I mean, it's almost unprecedented what he's done. It's good to have him around because I'm always chasing. Seven seems like a lot until you look at 12, then it doesn't seem as many. Q. Tom, a few weeks ago you said that the Big Ten depth was unbelievable, but maybe not so much at the top as it had been in the last few years. In your case, how did the Big Ten prepare you for the run you've been on in the NCAA tournament? COACH IZZO: Well, I think it really did help. I think you got some teams like a Minnesota who maybe pressed, played more zone. You got Iowa, who is really a big team this year. I think Illinois was a real tough team, along with Purdue. Ohio State was one of the more skilled offensive teams. So we had a lot of different variety of teams. Maryland was sensational. I think what you had is the year before, there was us, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin. We had four teams in the top 10 at one time. We didn't have that this year. But teams, maybe two and a half, because I think Wisconsin was the king, Maryland was right there. There were about six, seven teams that were in that dogfight in between. All of them were good enough to win a lot of games. I thought every night we went out, Northwestern played so good this year, Michigan had all those injuries, they still battled, not only beat some people but gave everybody a game right to the wire. I think that and the crowds you play in front of help prepare you for the NCAA tournament. Q. In a year where the perception isn't quite as strong as it's been, what does it say for the league that two teams get to the Final Four? COACH IZZO: Well, I think both of us went through some tough people to get here. I'm just tickled to death for Wisconsin, of course for ourselves. Being a guy that's been in the league longest of any coach here, I'm tickled to death for our league. I did say all year, I tried to stick up for our league. Last year we were the best two, three, four teams, so that makes your conference better. Sometimes I think the conferences should be ranked on how teams 12, 11, 10 and 9 are. The depth of a conference makes it different because there's no nights off. Q. Tom, having covered you for 20 years now, I can't imagine you as anything but a basketball coach. Back in the day, was there anything else in the works that you could have done rather than this, and what might it have been? COACH IZZO: Well, there was only two things I can really think of. I could have taken my grandfather and dad's business, been a shoemaker. That wouldn't have paid many of the bills. Thank God I didn't do that. My degree was in education. I almost took a job right out of college. My buddy and I were contemplating, Man, can we go be teachers now? The answer was, No. Like a lot of kids, we didn't know what to do, so we went back and worked on our Masters. That's when the coaching career first started for me. Then kind of a GA at Northern, a little bit of a full‑time assistant. Thank goodness Jud Heathcote hired me, and the rest was history. I think at one time education and teaching would have been what I would have pursued. I didn't want to be a miner up in the mines of the UP. I think that would have been it. Q. Once Judd called you, that was that? Before that did you really have your mind set? And tell me about your grandfather. Was that a cobbler? COACH IZZO: He was a shoemaker. We had a trades business. He owned it at one time. Of course, there were four brothers, my dad and my three uncles. I think at one time we had 17 grandchildren working there. We did awnings, windows, laid carpets. If you need some carpets laid, maybe I could do that in between games (laughter). We did a lot of different trade jobs. That was that. You know, once I got into the coaching at Eastern Illinois, I really think I would have stayed in that in some way, whether it be high school or college, I don't know. But I enjoyed it so much. Got an opportunity, won a conference championship that first year. Actually got beat to go to the state I think quarterfinals by my old high school, Iron Mountain. That was kind of interesting. My dad was president of the school board there when that happened. That was mixed feelings. But when I got with Judd, I realized that college is where I wanted to stay. He was so good to me and so good for me, taught me so many things, I think it really helped my progression as a coach. Q. Tom, John Calipari, your opinions of him. He's up for the Hall of Fame. He'll find out this weekend if he got in. What do you think about his candidacy? Is he a viable guy? What do you make of what he's done over the span of his career? COACH IZZO: Well, if you look at it, when you can win at Massachusetts, then go and win at Memphis, then the job he's done at Kentucky is unbelievable. He doesn't get enough credit for his coaching. Having great players, I mean, there's days that it's easier. I think what people don't realize is there's days when it's more difficult juggling egos, juggling the NBA stuff, juggling the expectations at a school like Kentucky. So for all the pluses of knowing that maybe you got better talent than most teams, you also got other issues. I don't know many guys that could have juggled that at Kentucky like he has. But it's not just when he was there, because he did it at Memphis, he did it at Massachusetts, he's done it at different levels. I do think he's very deserving of being in there. Q. Some time ago, we're talking a while back, you talked about modeling your program on Duke. That had more to do with the consistency of competing at that level, having a defined philosophy, all that. If you go back to pre‑2000, that sort of area, was there anything you specifically modeled what Mike has done at Duke? COACH IZZO: I think there's so many things, to be honest with you. Not that I should idolize my opponent. I think he's done it the right way, with good kids. The consistency is what I marvel over. It's hard to be that consistent over that much time. I think he had a little bit of a rough start, from what I heard. I didn't remember those days, but I think he did. I went through a little bit of that myself. That was our first Final Four. We played Duke, Elton Brand and everybody. So I just have always kept an eye on him. He's been a good friend. I just appreciate the way he's kind of adapted, changed his style some. For the most part, he's got some one‑and‑dones, some two‑and‑dones, but if you really look at it, he's won championships with Shane Battiers, people that have stuck around. He's adapted, he's adjusted. I think that's why he's still deserving of all the accolades he gets. He's done it with an Olympic team, with his Duke team. I guess I appreciate being here as long as I have, someone that's been in the same place even longer, because I don't think that's easy to do either. Expectations get so high. So good coach, classy guy, done it the right way. His players handle themselves the right way. I guess that's why you look at a program, you say, Where would you like yours someday? I guess that's what keeps me fighting. I think we're making some progress. Still got a ways to go. Q. You have all those nice things to say about him. He sort of has the head‑to‑head advantage on you. Any explanation that you only have the one win in '05? COACH IZZO: Head‑to‑head advantage? Somebody said, You guys have a good rivalry. I said, You can't have a rivalry when it's 8‑1. I think he's done a great job. I thought there were a couple times we could have beat them. One time we played them at our place after they lost to Purdue, I think, up in the Great Alaskan Shootout. Thought we could beat them. We lost by 20. I don't have any good reasons except they've got a good team and he does a good job. We're going to try to continue to get a better team and do a better job. It will be fun to see if we can change that around. This will be a good weekend to start, if we can do that. DAVE WORLOCK: Coach Izzo, thank you so much for your time. Safe travels to Indianapolis. We'll see you in a few days. COACH IZZO: Appreciate it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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