Izzo, seventh-seeded Michigan State crash party of No. 1s
INDIANAPOLIS — The thing is, Tom Izzo experienced it firsthand last year. He saw the magic a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament can create. He came to understand how incredible things can be when a few guards get hot and your kids play with a renewed sense of energy.
His team was a victim to Connecticut’s improbable journey to the top of college basketball in 2014, when a Spartans side Izzo was certain could win the national championship was stopped short in the Elite Eight by those amazing Huskies.
Michigan State is here this time. Really. It is as much part of the Final Four as those three No. 1 seeds to also advance, as deserving as undefeated Kentucky or Duke or Wisconsin.
The Spartans play one national semifinal against the Blue Devils today at Lucas Oil Stadium, the same Spartans with four more losses (11) than the other three teams combined.
“It’s not like we’re coming here 16-16,” Izzo said. “I mean, we’ve had a very good team this year that struggled at the (free-throw) line a bit. But I learned (from Connecticut) that seed doesn’t matter. I’m a victim of a 7 seed beating us and winning the national championship. The 1 seed is a 1 seed, and I respect them all. I have been a 1 seed and lost. That’s not so great, either.
“I have listened to a lot of things about us the last three to four days. I would be the first to admit that a month and a half ago, I questioned where we were. But we have earned our right to be here. We’re not going to apologize anymore. We’re ready to play.”
It was at the Champions Cup in November in Indianapolis — a collection of Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and Michigan State — when Izzo was asked to describe the difference between his team and the other three. He said the Spartans were short eight McDonald’s All-Americans, but that they did have some Burger King All-Americans.
He got a lot of laughs with that one.
But it wasn’t meant to be so funny.
It has been a common theme during his 20 years as coach in East Lansing, advancing to seven Final Fours and winning a national title in 2000 without the surplus of can’t-miss players other heralded programs take for granted once the time arrives to recruit another class. Izzo builds things by making players better over time, this current group as good an example as any. Travis Trice. Gavin Schilling. Denzel Valentine. Branden Dawson.
A kid named Tum Tum Nairn Jr.
All better players today than when first stepping on campus, no matter their class standing.
Izzo also believes social media doesn’t help one person on the planet, that it’s just an easy way for people to criticize others without fear of retaliation, and is one of the few coaches nationally (along with Rick Pitino of Louisville) whose locker room is open to the media after games.
Izzo, you see, is fairly secure in how he runs a program.
This is also arguably his finest coaching job, and that says a lot. Injuries forced Izzo to patchwork together a backcourt to start the season. The defense has been spotty all year. The free-throw shooting (63.2 percent) has made him want to cover his eyes more times than not.
The worst free-throw shooting team to win a national championship in the past four decades was Connecticut in 2004 at 62.3 percent. The past 10 national champions all have shot at least 69 percent.
And still, Michigan State has lived until the season’s final weekend.
“They’re a great program,” Duke guard Quinn Cook said. “Coach Izzo does a great job. They’re here for a reason. They’ve had that underdog mentality all March. People have been counting them out because of their losses. But they’ve also played eight overtime games. We know we’re going to have our hands full.”
Connecticut went 7-3 in its final 10 games before the tournament last season, before making that run to a title, but one of those defeats came by 33 points to Louisville. So while the Huskies were playing better than earlier in the season, few imagined they could win six straight NCAA Tournament games.
Michigan State (27-11) also went 7-3 in its final 10, but its stock was trending upward when the bracket was announced. The Spartans should have beaten Wisconsin in the Big Ten Conference tournament final a round after knocking off then-No. 8 Maryland.
So while it’s a 7 seed with 11 losses, Michigan State isn’t about to roll over and play nice against Duke or anyone else.
“We weren’t even ranked to begin the year, but neither was Notre Dame and some others,” Izzo said. “Our kids didn’t complain about it. We understood where we were, that we had some things to prove. We didn’t do it to prove you were wrong and we were right, but because we believed in ourselves.
“We had an incredible summer. You hear the stories about guys working together. All summer, I got calls on that, about where they were and what they were doing to get better. Sometimes they’re true stories, sometimes they’re fabricated.
“I got to watch them, live them, and now I see the results of them. And now we’re in the Final Four. That’s a pretty neat thing. But I also think if you look at what Connecticut did last year, it’s more incredible than what we did getting here.”
So far, but should the Spartans and Kentucky advance, the Wildcats would be a double-digit favorite come Monday.
Win that one, and Izzo might even tweet about it.
His last one came in March 2013.
His last and only one.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN 1100 and 100.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.
