NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 30, 2001

Tom Izzo

COACH TOM IZZO: In the mid '90s, you mean before I got the job?

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, it wasn't as much -- we were just coming off the Fab 5. They were a very, very good program, very good players. You know, we took over, and we had just lost two great guards and ended up in the NBA in Respert and Snow. So my first couple years, they were rough both on the court and in the recruiting it was difficult to get started. I was a new coach, unproven. I had to do a lot of selling. I had great assistants and university support. I guess because of that, we were able to land a pretty good class early and then build from there.

COACH TOM IZZO: You know, I really do. I think on paper, I guess everybody who would be looking at Duke because of what they've done throughout the whole year, but if you really look at Arizona and look at five guys that were Wooden Award nominees on that team and where they started, I think they're playing as well as people thought they would early. Maryland is playing awfully well as of late and overcame a big hurdle. I think we're playing better. You know, we're not maybe the flashiest of them, but we're finding a way to get it done, and I guess that's the name of the game.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, you know, people asked me the question about what is it like playing eleven- and nine -, eleven- and twelve-seed teams. The way they ask me, I thought some of those games must have been forfeits or something. Those teams beat some good teams. Temple just beat, I think, a very good Texas team, and Florida, who I have great respect for, had them down 20 at half time. So I don't feel like we played against, you know, really the seeds. I think we played against good teams that maybe went through some adversity early. People said early in the year that had we had enough competition because we played all those games at home against Florida and North Carolina and Kentucky, and it's kind of been something all year long. So somehow, some way we're here, and we're going to try to take advantage of being here and not necessarily worry about how we got here and how we -- worry about how many games we were ahead or behind. We're just going to do our job and play basketball.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, I think they definitely help. As you say, then we turn around and, you know, we're playing a lot of young guys. We're playing the three, four seniors, then we're playing with three, four, even five freshmen and sophomore. We've kind of got the double combination of good and bad. I think what's been good for us is our seniors have done a great job of trying to educate our freshmen and sophomores and really what it's going to be like, what to expect here. I think dealing and staying focused is the key to being successful in the national championship, you know, in the NCAA Final Four. I think it is the biggest key. Everybody should be ready to play and everybody, you know, has got to be pretty good or they wouldn't be here. It's the teams that stay focused on the task at hand that usually end up moving on.

COACH TOM IZZO: I'm not sure Wright's not the most dangerous of them. I think he can score some well and get people in foul trouble, he reminds me a lot of the Haslem kid that played at Florida: Posts deep, posts big, plays physical. He has a knack to be able to get a shot off inside. With Woods, I think the problems are he might be one of the best passing big men I've seen. I think he's very good in there high to low, way he feeds the post; at the same time he's big enough that if you don't give him respect it's an over-the-top pass or it's throwing over the shoulder, and he's getting an easy bucket. So they both create some problems for us, and yet that's why they're in the Final Four.

COACH TOM IZZO: I think the two things that we've tried to stress have been stick together and play as a group, as a family, you know. I've really been amazed how well we've stayed together for three or four years. Everybody talks about it, when you get to the Final Four you're supposed to cliche-ically say it. But this team has done it ever since we started coming here, ever since our first Big Ten Championship. I think we're fortunate, whether it's Antonio Smith or Cleaves and Peterson, Bell and Hutson, our best players are the hardest workers and the guys with the smallest egos. I think that leads to good camaraderie and appreciation for each other. They've bought into the system that, you know, we have to defend and rebound and get our running game going. So I say those two areas have been keys in why we've been able to maintain something at least so far.

COACH TOM IZZO: You know, I don't think we do anything that much different. I think it's sold within the players. In other words, when we started it, we did it by necessity. We weren't making a lot of shots, and the only way to combat that was to go get the ones you missed. Then we progressed now where we're shooting almost 50 percent from the field. It's been a staple that we've relied on. I think it's an aggressive approach. I think we send four to the boards. I think we talk about it when we're on the offensive end or defensive end in practice. We do work on our rebounding, but it's really not as much time as people think for as well as we've done. There were years I thought once we lost Smith we'd drop off. But they passed it on. It's been a characteristic of this program, and it's one that I think the players are a little bit proud of.

COACH TOM IZZO: I think I'd be the wrong guy to give those two guys advice the number of years they've been in it. But I guess, you know, I guess I learned last year that I'm not sure either party has an advantage. I did sit there last year and worry, how do you beat a team four times? Then talking to Dick Bennett later, he's sitting there, worrying about how do you beat a team once that you haven't been able to beat three times? So I think it's each, you can work it either way you want to, is the glass half full or half empty? I think one thing that will determine the outcome is who plays the best and doesn't get caught up in the 'why should you win' or 'why shouldn't you win.' Just go out and win.

COACH TOM IZZO: I beg them. (Laughing.) I beg them to stay for my family and my program. No. You know, maybe guys haven't been as good as the other ones or quite as ready. I think in Cleaves' case to be honest with you, the guy had an incredible dream. He wanted to win a national championship. It's something that people maybe aren't as driven for these days. I think more guys are driven to get to the NBA. I always thought that he was about winning. I think he's passed some of that on, and, you know, I'm sure the day's going to come when we're going to lose somebody. But for right now, we've had great role models in our guys that left, whether it be Smith or Snow or in this case Cleaves and Peterson, telling the guys that it is better maybe to learn the game in college, get better so you're not going somewhere and playing three, four minutes a game. I don't know. I don't really have an answer for it. I think if my guys are ready to go both emotionally and physically, I'm in favor of that if that's what's in their best interest. I still get disappointed with people leaving for the wrong reasons, which is because outside influences are telling them or academically they're not ready to go. Thank God we've had no problems in those areas.

COACH TOM IZZO: You're making it sound too cruel. (Laughing.) First part of the question, yeah, we did that last year. We did that last year where we put on some shoulder pads and helmets, and it was probably the greatest thing I ever did. You know, we came back from Ohio State, we didn't play very well. I didn't think we worked very hard. I look at rebounding as an effort-related stat. And so when we did it, you know, I had about five guys on my team that were Division I football recruits, Cleaves and Hutson were a couple of them. Mateen had just come off his foot injury. He did not -- I did not want to let him participate in that. He let me know that he was participating in it because he thought it was going to be fun. It was fun watching Mateen strap on some helmets on other 6'9" guys who had no clue in the world. But ended up me wanting to get after it a little bit -- probably ended up the most fun drill I ever did. The guys had a riot. They enjoyed it, came together. It's something they'll always have in their memory bank. We had a lot of fun doing it. We do play a game we call war. It's just a game. I do it five, six minutes a game. That's really the brunt of our rebounding drills. We line up five guys on one side, five on the other, throw a ball at the backboard, see who's going to come back with it. I do not spend a lot of time teaching cut-outs. I think aggressiveness with the basketball is the key to good rebounding. That's what we do.

COACH TOM IZZO: I think they're a very good defensive team, too. I think sometimes because we don't shoot the ball from range as well, we get maligned in that area. I think most teams here have at least one deficiency, whether it will be an inside game, outside game. I think they're the most complete team. Not because we're playing them but everyone else must have felt the same way. That's why they picked them so high at the beginning of the year. I think the matchups are going to be critical. I think there's going to be some great matchups with Arenas and Bell probably, or when you look at Jefferson and Richardson, two of maybe the best athletes in college basketball, and you look at a guy like Wright and Hutson, they're very similar type athletes and players. So there's going to be some great matchups. I guess, you know, we'll worry about defending and rebounding, but we have to put the ball in the basket and don't count out their defense. I've seen them hold some teams down, too, and they can get after you defensively very well. I think it's going to be a great game. I hope it's as good as I think it's going to be.

COACH TOM IZZO: Well, you know, I mean, I look at a lot of coaches. I came up with Jud Heathcote and I look at a lot of coaches that I knew that never got to a Final Four. Sometimes I feel lucky, fortunate; sometimes guilty. On that one day when we played Temple, I mean, I said this and I'd say it again, if there was anybody else we were playing, if they were playing anyone else, I would have been pulling for them. Just standing for what, you know, guys like me that are coming up hope to emulate and be some day, and for some reason, we've been lucky and good enough. I think we've been good enough. I also think we have been fortunate. Last year we could have lost some games on our road to the Final Four, and I think you got to be a little bit of both, and I think John's day will still come. I know it should. Because he stands for everything that's right about college basketball.

COACH TOM IZZO: Sometimes I worry my wife and daughter don't appreciate it as much, but I know I do. I've been around and seen guys that talk about, you know, "Next time I get back," and they never made it. I heard all the stories. As far as our players go, I think what's driving them right now is we have a chance to do something only one other team has done in recent history, and that is, you know, a big accomplishment to try to repeat. I don't see any complacency in us, I don't see anything where we're not as excited. After the Regionals, I guess it wasn't as crazy as maybe it was the year before, but that was for no bad reasons. I just think this team has matured. It's got five seniors, and we realized we still had a lot of work to do, and we got a lot of work to do this weekend.