Mark it down.ย Dick Vitale, larger than life ESPN Media Personality, has Tom Izzo and his Michigan State Spartans making the Final Four yet again this year. If Vitale’s prediction that he made on a media conference call yesterday is right, then make your travel plans for Houston now Spartans fans. Save time to visit the Johnson Space Center.
Tom Izzo is 20-4 in the second game of any given weekend (the Saturday game after the Thursday, and the Sunday game after the Friday) in the NCAA tournament, including a ridiculous 13-1 in the round of 32, an all-time best winning percentage of anybody in the game.
Dick Vitale did a national media conference call yesterday, and theย audio can be found here at this link.ย Vitale discussed how much heย loves the combination of Tom Izzo and Denzel Valentine, and how he sees the duo propelling the Spartans back to college basketball’s promised land.
The discussion start at the 15:45 mark.
“I think that formula to me equals another trip to the Final Four. Tom Izzo is brilliant come tournament time,” Vitale said.ย
“He’s just a great motivator and a Hall of Famer.”
He then recounted his experiences watching MSU demolish Rutgers in the second half Wednesday night, and the reaction he had to the game through Twitter. I can’t transcribe it, because that doesn’t do it justice, you just have to listen to the audio.ย
Would have loved to be a fly on the wall at halftime of MSU vs Rutgers / Izzo I am certain got the Spartans attention ! @MagicJohnson
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) March 3, 2016
Tom Izzo, appropriately nicknamed “Mr. March” will be in the NCAA Tournament for the 19th consecutive season, only Kansas (27) and Duke (21) will have longer streaks.ย Izzo’s Spartans, currently ranked #2 in the national polls, have reached the Sweet 16 in 13 of those 18 seasons. Unreal.
So while Spartans fans are concerned about seeding right now, I wouldn’t give it that much worry. Neither would Vitale.
โA #3 seed is just as good as a #1 seed. Theyโre so close it’s unreal,โ said Dickie V of the ridiculous amount of parity this season.ย
The pundit also sees a Spartan as the likely runner-up for the national player of the year award; with the winner coming form Oklahoma.
โI think with Buddy Hield and Denzel Valentine itโll be a two man race, most likely but Hield will be the player of the year and heโs a kid thatย can carry a team.โ
While Tom Izzo is Mr. March, he’s definitely not Mr. April, as Final Four weekend has been rough for him and the program in recent years. However, we’ll save that analysis and discussion for another time. For my second question on this conference call, I asked Vitale to expand upon why he thinks MSU is going back to the Final Four.
(My first question was about whether or not he thinks John Groce should be removed at Illinois, read that here)
This conversation begins at the 45 minute mark.
“The play of Denzel Valentine is unbelievable. His ability to shoot the ball, pass the ball, and don’t forget the play of Tom Costello,” said Vitale.
“You don’t hear about it much nationally, I don’t see the papers in Detroit and that area that much, but Costello has been tremendous on the inside.”
Vitale sees Costello, Valentine and Bryn Forbes as MSU’s big three; plus Tom Izzo adding up to something really special. Dickie V. also made some interesting remarks about how unique and superlative Izzo has been at motivating kids in the one-and-done era.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, partnered withย FOX Sports Engage Network.ย andย News Now.ย Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEyeย publicationย and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country.ย Follow him onย Twitterย andย Instagram
