NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 26, 1999

Tom Izzo

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, I'm as excited to be here as I think a guy could ever be. Everybody told me how good it is and how great it gets. But words can't describe the excitement that I think myself or the team and our school have had, especially the last week. So I think our team has the dubious task of playing maybe one of the greatest teams in college basketball for a lot of years, and yet I think we're excited about the opportunity for the rematch with Duke and maybe kind of a strange deal that we play all three teams in the Final Four. So we're looking forward to it, and I guess that's it.

COACH TOM IZZO: That's a compliment, I guess. I hope you are ready to go every day. The two guys you had up here, Mateen and Antonio, they're two of my best players and hardest workers. We have a great staff that works very hard. I think a team that checks their egos at the front door and just goes to work, if that's what it is, a working man's world, then that's the way I'd like to have it.

COACH TOM IZZO: I don't think they have one. When you have a point guard like they have, they can penetrate. If he does penetrate, we'll kick out Langdon. Defensively, they're extremely good and they're well coached with a lot of experience. I guess if you have to really search, search, search, there's a backup point guard or if Avery gets in foul trouble that could be a problem. And, you know, some said they haven't rebounded as well maybe as a team, and I look at them and they're not missing many shots. When you're getting a lot of steals, you don't have to get a lot of rebounds. They really are a team with depth and they have a lot of things going for them. He's done a lot of great jobs with a lot of great players. He doesn't let them get away from him.

COACH TOM IZZO: I think a great point guard is one that can run your team and be an extension of yourself on the floor. I think we all give them this egomaniac thing here where the coaches have a lot to do. We have a lot to do until the game starts and then your point guard better take over. There's so many things the point guard can see on the floor that he can't see on your bench. If you're not on the same wavelength with him, I don't think you can be as successful. I think a great point guard makes other players better. I think we've all got great players, but the key is who puts them in the right position, who puts them in that position to be successful. I think the great point guards do that.

COACH TOM IZZO: Normally I think there would be a plus side. If you were playing some teams that were heavily favored and talking about being heavily favored, you could use some of the bulletin board stuff. But it's such a class program, Mike's such a class guy, you don't hear the players saying things, they're focused on the task at hand. That's what makes it more difficult I think. I don't remember being an underdog by this many points in the last couple years, and yet in my own way I understand it. A lot of people are asking are you upset that you're that much underdog. They've earned the right on what people think about them, and that's what we're trying to do.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, because I think it's what's best for our team. And it's just in a rotation as far as -- he's a guy that can come off and play four positions. Defensively, he can play four or five positions; offensively, three for sure, sometimes four. And so he just gives us a lot of flexibility. And I think that's a big key. You know, we've had him buried in point guard, buried in centers. And when you can do that, then after that the instant offense he brings, I do not think I have anybody on our team that can bring that lift to our team. And that's critical to us. He, you know, went through a period, I think it was a little bit hard. But he had just -- I think that tells you a lot about Morris Peterson, that he's able to adjust to it and embrace it and learn how to have success as a sixth man.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, you know, I have a lot of good football friends. I've learned a lot from football coaches and our own coaches. I like the fact that football coaches are very organized and they're able to get stuff out of players. That I think is better than some basketball guys do. That's why I've always enjoyed it. I think the key is not the Xs and Os, how do you get a player to play as hard as he can play and as well as he can play. That's what a successful coach is. If you're a volleyball coach, basketball coach, tennis coach, it really doesn't matter. The toughness part -- I don't think in this day and age of college basketball, I think you have to be tough to win, not dirty. And I hope nobody ever thinks that. We're just a tough team. But I think you have to be tough to win.

COACH TOM IZZO: I think it's good. I think players, as I said before, you know when you're winning, then that's what you believe, you feel. When you come to the huddle and you're down 17 to 4 against Kentucky, you know, it takes a special player to be able to stand there and look at that jersey and look at what those promos are now and we're trying to get there. I think by winning as much as we have, they believe we can get it done. We've got it done a million different ways, by running, slowing it down, by shooting well, by shooting poor. So I think there's a confidence that we played a lot of great teams. We played a lot of different styles and we found ways to win, different ways. So for that, I think as long as we keep winning, why figure out what it's like to lose?

COACH TOM IZZO: You know, Elton Brand, I think Duke's done that for a while. I think they're very good at that. I think what I'm looking for is versatile players. I do think you have to be versatile nowadays. I think defense is getting so good they can take away just a double post off and serve, things that were maybe more traditional. So Morris is the kind of player that I like because I think he has that great versatility, and what you can do when you have versatility, defensively is where he really helps us. On our campus, as I stated before, we used to kid Morris that he was still looking for the first guy he ever guarded when he came to Michigan State and now he's one of our best defensive players. I think it's just a great tribute to how much time that kid has put in.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, the problem is now when we were at Chicago, we limited Brand by setting up Shane Battier some. And all of a sudden half way through the year, I happened to watch the Maryland game, and being the Battier fan that I am since he's from our area, it was incredible what he started doing I think a little bit before that night. But that night. And since then he's been on a roll. And now, you know, you can't give him an open look so it just creates more problems because it's more shooters and if you press up on the shooters, which we had some success doing, stopping the three-point shooters, it gives more of an opening to Brand. And I think Brand is working harder, is a better player now than he was last December.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, he does a lot more than what you see on the stat sheet because the stat sheets really don't tell the story with Antonio. But he's been a guy who's been our emotional leader. He's been the guy that if anybody is selfish, he makes sure they're not. You can look at Antonio, as they do a lot of great players, you can point to Tone and say he works every day at practice, he works hard, he does this, he does that. When your best players are in that kind of frame, then you have a successful team. For us, Antonio does all the little things, all the inside things that nobody cares about, probably runs a lot of team meetings and just does the things that help you win games.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, I think we all have to do that to a certain extent. I don't think it's a major sell job. I said that, you know, there has been bigger upsets than Michigan State over Duke. It happens that this year Duke is probably the favorite team coming into a Final Four as I've seen in a number of years. We talked to our players about how to handle it with the media, how to handle ourselves, but most importantly what to believe inside. There's no secrets. You know, everybody that's played against teams like Duke or Kentucky that have been on rolls, you know, convincing your players and making sure that they understand that look, there aren't many flaws but our approach has been if they play their A game -- I don't lie to my guys -- if they play their A game, I don't think many teams can beat them including us. Our job is to make sure they don't play their A game. That's the approach we're trying to take.

COACH TOM IZZO: I think you hit the nail on the head. If there's a kid in college basketball better than Shane, I don't know where he is. I saw him since about 8th grade when I started recruiting him. I watched him work in summers by himself in gyms when nobody was there. Working on his game, working on his game, working on his game. He's getting exactly what he deserves. That's the greatest part about it. A lot of people want to know, in watching, was I upset and this and that; of course, you lose, and to a magnitude, you are, but I was close to his family. Even him a little bit. He went where he wanted to go. That was his dream. And I respect that and I wish him all the luck in the world. All but tomorrow night.

COACH TOM IZZO: Oh, there's two or three. I think one is containing their three-point shooting. If Langdon gets on a roll, he's impossible to stop. And we've had some success doing that, maybe not against the number of three-point shooters they have. But I think that will be key. And of course our offensive rebound is a key for us. So those two stats maybe will be critical. Turnovers is going to be one because you can't defend layups if they're getting steals on entry passes. Doesn't matter how good a defensive team we are, they're going to make layups and guarantee you they won't miss any of those. There's two or three key stats that I think could make a difference in the game.

COACH TOM IZZO: I think they're important because for us, if they're getting rebounds, that means we're not doing a good job on the offensive boards. If we're not getting offensive rebounds and put backs, it's going to be difficult for us to win. At the same time, I believe the transition game, if we had picked one area that we could work the hardest, it was on our transition game. They seem to get so many open shots just by the way they push it up the floor and penetrate the kickout. They're so good at their spacing and everything. So the rebounding leads to the fast break for two teams. We do a run, too. So we think we have to get some open and easy shots because they're such a good defensive team.

COACH TOM IZZO: Again, it's a great credit to tell you a little bit about our team. He sacrifices scoring. His scoring now in the last couple of weeks is trying to get better and better. He's a kid that will score a lot for us next year. But he's another guy that kind of said, hey, I'll do whatever it takes to win. I'll sacrifice my own personal glory to do what's best for the team. And for that I am very proud of Charlie. I want his offense to continue to grow as it has. He had a big three-point shot against Kentucky that maybe helped us win that game.

COACH TOM IZZO: Thank you.