Tom Izzo Interview breaking down State’s strengths and weaknesses
By Paul M. Banks
Of all the Big Ten teams in the tournament, the one that everyone expects to actually do some damage this March is Michigan St. The #2 seed in the Midwest Regional, if they can survive Louisville and company, they would play in the Final Four, right in their backyard in Detroit. So what kind of team is Michigan State and how far can the Spartans go? Let Tom Izzo tell you. We all know that coaches and athlete interviews are usually the most boring things to read/listen to imaginable, so I made sure to do the screening for you and leave in only the interesting and relevant things the legendary coach had to say at a recent March press conference.
Izzo explains why he called his him dysfunctional earlier this seasonโฆ
โYou know dysfunctional doesnโt mean you have to appreciate my vocabulary, it doesnโt mean weโre in disarray, it just means weโre not functioning smoothly. Thatโs the big thing, Raymar Morgan has something to do with that. And with a number of freshmen and sophomores playing an extended period of time- Green and Korie theyโre on the scout team, so they donโt even practice and your timing on plays is part of our problem. But to their credit theyโre starting to grow and get character wins in tough placesโ
On the underrated and often overlooked senior center Idong Ibokโฆ
โHe really is a great defender. And thatโs one of the kids that you gotta say you love, heโs a graduate student, he hasnโt been home in 6 years, he just never complains and heโs a big reason we won a Big Ten titleโ
Assessing the strength of his teamโs defenseโฆ
โDefense can be measured in a lot of ways: points allowed, opposing field goal percentage, but itโs almost like what Jay Bilas says about heart, you measure it when things are on the line. And I thought down the stretch our defense is getting better, itโs been pretty solid when weโve had the right lineups in there. We have versatility and thatโs what I like about this team, where you can bring an ID (Ibok) and he makes a big difference and Iโm excited for him.โ
Overall, the injury-riddled season and how heโs overcome it
โItโs gonna go down as one of the harder 26 win seasons of my career and that doesnโt mean in a negative way, it just means from Durrell Summersโ ankle injury that lasts a few days to weโve always had something, weโve had three injuries that have been 4-5-6 weeks each and ten month things and thatโs been harder to ever feel smooth and push the right buttons. But you got to approach everything and this how you do it in the NCAA tournament, So Iโve got to find some silver lining in a dark cloudโ
