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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURMarch 29, 2010Tom IzzoINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA DAVE WORLOCK: We have Coach Izzo on the line. Coach, congratulations on advancing to your sixth Final Four in the last 12 years. A remarkable accomplishment. Appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule today to take calls from the media. COACH IZZO: I appreciate that. I'm looking forward to the questions. DAVE WORLOCK: We'll jump right into the first question. Q. Tom, I guess 33 years old you were an assistant. Can you talk about the job Brad Stevens has done at such a young age and what you've seen from his team? COACH IZZO: I've been very impressed with Brad, with his team, how he's handled everything. Seems like a very humble guy, blue-collar guy with maybe a white-collar way of putting it. He's very articulate, to the point. He seems to have a great handle on it. Normally I'd say, you know, last year it was a little hard handling all the distractions of being close to home. I said right off the bat after we won yesterday that when I was asked whether I thought that would bother Butler, I said, No, because of the demeanor of their coach. The way their team is, I think they'll use it fine, use it to an advantage instead of a disadvantage. Q. The talk about Oregon. I know you're preparing for the Final Four. Have you been contacted, what your thoughts are on that? COACH IZZO: No, you know, I haven't been contacted. You know, the truth of the matter is, you know it, whenever you have some success, thank God I've had some, you get to be one of 10 names that pops up on different things. No, I haven't. I'm not sure where that came out of. Probably won't comment on it anymore because I got a job to do. I'm happy with the job I have. It doesn't come at a better time of year than March. I'm looking forward to this Final Four. Q. I haven't done a huge breakdown, but I haven't noticed quite the Hansbrough superstar-type in this Final Four. You have obviously had to kind of cobble things together with injuries. What do you think about the nature of the four teams left? Seems like it's a team effort instead of one or two guys. COACH IZZO: I think that's true. I mean, I think West Virginia got a key player or two. And definitely Duke, you know, over time, Scheyer has been there four years, done it year in and year out. You look at Hayward. You can find pros, potential pros, on every team. But the megastar that maybe you normally seem to find in these Final Fours maybe isn't there. I think it's refreshing that you're looking at four teams that 'team' is maybe the most important thing. I think it's going to make for a good Final Four in a different way. I think people, it might be refreshing and enjoyable to watch teams that are going to have to rely on each other to advance a little bit more than maybe one person. Q. Michigan has had a lot of great coaches. Where would you put yourself in terms of historically in ranking the great coaches? COACH IZZO: I mean, I think we've had good success during the years. I think we've just been fortunate on these Final Fours. Yeah, you got to be good, you got to be lucky, we've been a little bit of both. Sometimes they've come -- like the year after we went to the first one, it seemed like we should have got back to the next one, and we did. Then there's years like 2005, or maybe this year where you say, Where did it come from? You know, what I respect about Judd, Bo, those different coaches that you're talking about, the way I'd like to be linked with them, they did it the right way, with class, humility, and hopefully their players were the same way. Rankings are wins and losses, all those things. I look at it more like all the things we've done, your players are graduating, we're trying to make them better people. There's always going to be some problems and mistakes, this and that. But that's what I got following those two guys, and then winning. I think Judd withstood the test of time for 15 years. And Bo was unbelievable, what he did there, winning year in and year out. That's kind of what I respect. Instead of ranking, I'd rather be grouped in to say we're doing it the right way, the way some of the great coaches before me in either sport have done it here in the state of Michigan. Q. Do you see yourself in that class of a Bo, of a Judd? COACH IZZO: No, no, no. I don't yet. But I never did and I don't yet. But I think that's what the future brings. If you keep winning, keep doing it the right way, in the end, it all takes care of itself, what should happen, if you've accomplished things. Getting there is one thing, maintaining is another. We've maintained for a while. Got some years left. I think that is something that is judged at the end or should be judged at the end. That's what retirement is for. Q. You alluded earlier that Butler would be home. What were your expectations last year going into the Final Four in Detroit? Was there anything you didn't expect? If you had to do it over again, would there be anything you changed? COACH IZZO: You know, I'll be honest with you, I thought our kids handled the trip there about as good as you can handle it. I don't know, I haven't looked up, it's one thing being the home state or hometown team, it's another thing if your players are all from that area. The one thing we had, everybody on our roster, but one or two guys, were from a three-hour radius and a lot of them, of course, from the state of Michigan. That means more relatives, cousins, friends. I thought our guys handled it great. A lot of people said, Are the distractions what got you against North Carolina? I say, no, the talent is what got us against North Carolina. They were just better than we were. Going in, I wouldn't have changed many things. Went down on a Wednesday. We have a little team time together. I think what's going to be good about this Final Four, they've changed the format a little bit as far as you got more opportunities to be downtown, which I think is good. Some people want to be far away. I think the players should enjoy some of the falderal of what goes on at a Final Four. If you can't handle that, you're probably not the right team to have a chance to win. Q. How much of an advantage did you get from the home crowd from the Final Four especially against Connecticut? COACH IZZO: Against Connecticut, I think it really worked to our advantage, it really did. There's nothing like walking out there, having 40,000 people pulling for you in the venues like the ones we play in now. In Indianapolis, it's a beautiful venue. We played in there last year. I think, unless you can't handle the distractions, it's definitely a plus. And yet, like everything else they say in sports, after the opening tip, you play a couple minutes, usually the best team still wins. In basketball, compared to almost any other sport, I think the crowd can make the biggest difference because it's so close, it's so right there. So, you know, if it's handled right, and I'm sure it will be, it's definitely going to be worth something to them, and it's going to be their form. I just look at it like we dealt with it one way, which helped us. We watched North Carolina just take our heart out, take the crowd right out of the game. Then we've also gone and played in Indianapolis against Louisville last year in the Elite 8 when they had 30,000 Louisville fans and found a way to win. I think we have enough experience each way. I think what it comes down to is who plays the best. Q. Stevens says it's Big Ten country and he thinks there will be a lot of Michigan State fans there. Do you agree with that? COACH IZZO: I do agree with that. I think, number one, because we do travel pretty well. It's a three-and-a-half, four-hour ride. There will be a lot of people coming down. Getting tickets will be the issue. Number two, it is Big Ten country. Thank God, we're a very I think favorable with Indiana and Purdue. Those fans have always been good to me. I think, you know, hopefully we'll embrace the conference. But there's no question that, hey, listen, this is a special story for Butler and deservedly so. It's not out the clouds because they were picked in the top 10 all year. I mean, if I wasn't playing 'em, I definitely would be a fan, I can promise you that. Q. The term 'mid-major' used to carry more meaning it seems like. Maybe now it doesn't so much with Butler and George Mason and Gonzaga. Can you express what's happened there along the way? COACH IZZO: Don't forget Northern Iowa since we blew them out by one or two. Those teams are good, they're really good. I think there's a couple of reasons. Number one is the parity is more. Number two, when they cut the scholarships, a lot of players that would have gone to some of those other schools, are going to East. Number three, I just think there's better players out there and people are putting more money in and things like that, and they're playing against the higher echelon teams, these pre-season tournaments and games. They're realizing that they can play with them. The problem when it was home and home, no big schools would go to those schools, so they either played them in a tournament once every four years or they played you on your home court. Now I think these pre-season tournaments, they're getting a shot. Gonzaga has done an incredible job of scheduling teams like that. They're just better. They're well-coached. The last thing, they got a lot of four- and five-year players on a lot of these teams. I think some of the, let's say, the six top conferences are losing players to the NBA and for the most part these guys are keeping them and that, too, makes a difference. Q. Obviously a lot is being made about six Final Fours. In the moment, can you consider what you've done going to six Final Fours in 12 years? COACH IZZO: You know, I don't want to sound like the most humility driven guy in America, but I don't. I don't think you do because you never look at things the same from the inside out as you look at them from the outside in. At this time of year, of course, you don't get a chance to sit down and think about it. That's not what this time of year is for. I'm not even sure the off-season is for that. I think that's the retirement season. I'm not near that. No, I haven't. And yet I appreciate each one. I guess I always think about Gene Keady at this time of year. I think he was one of the greatest coaches I've ever gone against, watched coach since I was an assistant for a long time with Judd. He never went to one. I don't think you should be evaluated on Final Fours because I still put him in the top echelon of coaches that I know. I think how lucky I am that I have had a chance to go to some; some of the great ones haven't had a chance to go to any. I've appreciated it. But I haven't really looked at it to say, Wow, I get to do that in 15 years or so. Q. Some would maybe think this would be the hardest one to get to. Was there a part of the season that was most difficult, early February or preconference, something like that? COACH IZZO: Well, I think at the start of the year, it was a little hard because we were picked so high and we lost four good players, two starters. The two starters were the best defensive players in the league, the MVP of the elite, Sutton, Walton. That made it difficult. We played a difficult schedule, especially playing North Carolina and Texas on the road. We played Gonzaga and Florida. We played a difficult schedule. The league I thought was better. Then we had the injury bug. It wasn't major. But the three games that Kalin was out, he was actually out for two full games, but then he wasn't healthy for another week, and we lost some games in that period. Our schedule got tougher. We might have lost them with Kalin. It was just adjusting to all those things. At the end, you know, when it was Kalin and Chris Allen and Delvon Roe hasn't been healthy all year, but just sucked it up and played. That part of it has been a little more unnerving than some Final Four runs. I think it's made it more satisfying, too. I think it's what I look at it now and say, Wow, our guys did what we've asked them to do, they've handled adversity, sucked it up, toughed it out and, Shazam, we're heading to Indy, and that's awesome. Q. I wanted to ask you about Indianapolis. The feelings you get going back there, Michigan State has had a great run there. When you hear Indianapolis in the NCAA tournament, does that conjure up a very good vibe? COACH IZZO: Magic brought that up to me yesterday. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I don't think we've lost in Indy in the NCAA tournament. That was his '79 team, and then of course 2009. You know, unfortunately, I don't think that's why you win, although last year when we were playing, they had torn down the dome we won it in, I know I went over and got a piece of that dome. There were some rocks on the floor that I saved to remember. But, you know, I like Indy. It's Big Ten country. It's not too far. It's a good atmosphere for a Final Four since you have pretty good access downtown, the arena, the stadium is so close. I just think it's a great setting and it's been good to us. But unfortunately now we play a team that's the hometown team and maybe the darlings of the tournament in a way. So we're just going to have to try to overcome that and see how we can play. Q. Six Final Fours in 12 years, theoretically what you've been able to do there, what Coach Krzyzewski has done at Duke should be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, because of all we've seen with the parity, the expansion of the tournament back in '85. Do you have any idea how you or Coach Krzyzewski or both of you have been able to continually make it back to the Final Four and sustain the excellence over such a long period of time? COACH IZZO: To me, it's easier for me than it was him because I've had someone to look at and how he's done it, read his books and watched him. He's just done an incredible job there. I think what's most incredible is he's done it in recruiting, he's done it on the court, he's done it in the classroom, he's done it with class. He's done it over time. We're starting to get to the point where we're doing it over time. I can only say that I feel very fortunate and lucky that we've gone to the six. Some of it's been with good teams. Some of it's we've gotten lucky in the tournament. I think all in all, you know, for me, I've watched what he's done and really admired it from afar, learned some things, listened to him talk about winning weekends, not just games. So I guess I owe some of my success to what he's accomplished there. Then I had somebody to kind of show me the path and tried to steal some things they did, add a few of my own. We're still winning. So I guess that's what's important. Q. Do you agree that it should be incredibly difficult? COACH IZZO: Well, it's hard. It is hard. I mean, it's hard because, you know, people get fat and sassy, whether it's your own players or the people around you or the doctors and trainers, assistant coaches, all the people that are important for you to get there to help your team get there. So that's what makes it tough. But at the same time, you know, I think it is harder because there's so many teams that are better now. The mid-majors are better. Conferences, you know, are deeper. I think it's easier to put more money into basketball since it's a cheaper sport to run compared to football. So we are getting more and more parity. And players want to go somewhere they can start and start immediately, so they don't mind going somewhere else if they get that opportunity. So all those things put together is more difficult. But once you've done it, too, at least you have a roadmap on how, and then you tweak it according to who you have. DAVE WORLOCK: Coach Izzo, thank you for your time. COACH IZZO: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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