Tom Izzo on Michigan basketball: 'Is the rivalry on? Yeah, it's on'
The Michigan basketball team swept Michigan State, finished with a better record than the Spartans and made a longer tournament run than their NCAA-tested in-state rival.
So, does that mean the gap in a rivalry long dominated by Michigan State has been closed?
It took Spartans coach Tom Izzo 3 minutes and 10 seconds to answer that very question at a season-ending press conference on Tuesday.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo sits on the Spartan bench before a March 5 game at Crisler Arena. For the first time in 13 years, the Izzo-led Spartans dropped both regular season games to Michigan.
AnnArbor.com file photo
Here are some highlights of his reply, courtesy of a Grand Rapids Press story:
"Sure, I hope they lose every game, and they hope we lose every game, if you’re a fan," Izzo said. "And sure, it makes it harder. And sure, I’ve got to answer a lot of questions about that. They had a hell of a year and they did a great job. I think John (Beilein) is a very good coach. But isn’t, really, a lot of this what it’s supposed to be?"
To the original question, Izzo replied that it "doesn’t matter if the gap’s been closed."
"Are they a good basketball team? Yes. Are they, have they got, a good program? Yes," he said. "And they’re starting to put more things in, and do more things, that they should do, facilities and everything.
"It really doesn’t matter anymore on where the gap is because nobody cares about where anybody was, they just care about what happens today. And so, today, you know what? They were 21-13, we were 19-14. They beat us twice this year, in good games. We had some bigger wins than they had, they had a more impressive tournament run than we had. So if that means the gap is closed, then the gap is closed. Is the rivalry on? Yeah, it’s on. Am I looking forward to it? Yes, I am."
Comments
Engineer
Thu, Mar 24, 2011 : 1:12 a.m.
Here's hoping for 4 in a row!!! That will help with recruiting more than anything.
rocco
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 7:17 p.m.
Braggslaw and A2Reality both make good points. Izzo is still winning the recruitment battle, but John B outcoached him this year with less talented players (on paper). The problem Michigan is going to run into next year is that they're guard heavy and short on post players. Top teams (including OSU, WI, MSU and PURDUE) have several post players to chose from in case someone gets hurt or gets in foul trouble. Michigan will be in the same situation next year since they didn't recruit inside players once again. All their bigs will be better but so will everyone else's. It's hard to guess how far they will get next year, but on paper they could easily end up in the same place or less.
Dusty
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 9:25 p.m.
Post players are over-rated in the college game. Good guard play is at a premium in the NCAA tournament, and between Morris and Hardaway, Jr., Michigan is sitting pretty at that position for next season. And if you're expecting Michigan to recruit bigs, well, don't. Beilein's scheme doesn't demand much size. Obviously it doesn't hurt to have length, but he won't recruit a kid for the sake of size if he can't also move well enough to be effective in his motion offense.
braggslaw
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 5:40 p.m.
John B has done a great job with the program this year. BUT there are few things he needs to do. 1. Beat Izzo in Michigan. Anderson, Kearney, Valentine, Costello etc. are all headed to MSU. These are the best players in Michigan. Brundridge is a consolation prize (but still pretty good). 2. Recruit some Mcdee All Americans, you need a high level of talent to advance in the tourney. 3. Use the 1-3-1 as a surprise defense and use man to man as your base defense. I liked how Duke was totally got off guard by the 1-3-1. 4. Get people in the seats at Crisler. Too many games are a morgue. Izzo will not disappear but Michigan can equal the MSU program if we accomplish these 4 things.
A2Realilty
Thu, Mar 24, 2011 : 9:32 p.m.
Braggslaw - If you want to believe that Kearney is better than Brundidge based on one game, then so be it. I've watched both play several games this year and my opinion differs defiantly from yours: Brundidge is definitely better. Our other 2011 recruit, Burke was just named Mr. Basketball for Ohio. I'm sure that Anderson is a good player, but so is Burke. It really hasn't been two decades of poor play. It has been about 13 years. Also, when I last looked, graduated players from the past "two decades" can't suit up for either Michigan or MSU next year. In today's world, it is much more about what have you done for me lately. It is likely that Michigan will land Bielfeldt tomorrow and Stauskis before much longer. That will use up all our ships for 2011 and 2012. Everyone of the recruits in those two classes are very solid players that are likely to stay for 3 or 4 years. Beilein is doing very well in recruiting and I expect that it will continue to improve as our on court success improves.
braggslaw
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 8:53 p.m.
I go to plenty of games. The 1-3-1 was phased out this year... my point is to use it as a surprise. When Kearny faced Brundridge face2face, Kearney gave him a beat down. Anderson was Mr. BB in Michigan MSU also has the Mcdee kid (Dawson?)from Indiana along with the other kids coming in this year. We have to be realistic and not pollyanish, making the NCAA tourney and winning a game does not erase two decades of poor play.
A2Realilty
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 6:36 p.m.
Braggslaw - You obviously don't go to the games. 1) Brundidge (no r) is much higher rated than Kearny. Valentine and Costello are both 2012 recruits and they don't have ratings that equate to 2011. Brundidge is no consolation prize. He's probably the second best out of the 5 players you listed. 2) This is patently false. Please see Butler circa 2010. If you want to pay players like Kentucky under Calipari, then you can land 4 5* players every year. You'll also only have them for 1 or 2 years. 3) This is exactly what Beilein does. The base defense this year was man with some 2-3 zone. 1-3-1 was probably run 5% of the time over the course of the season. Even 5% may be generous. 4) Winning helps this and Beilein is doing it. There's no gap between MSU and Michigan right now. MSU has a lot of players on its current roster who aren't living up to their hype. Meanwhile, Beilein is consistently proving to be a great evaluator of talent... Hardaway for example, was rated about the same or lower than Brundidge for comparison sake. There's very few players that we'd trade for Hardaway right now.
Dusty
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 5:47 p.m.
Michigan hasn't used the 1-3-1 as their base defense in two years now. They pull it out often, but it's not what they run most of the time. Way to pay attention.
golfer
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 4:37 p.m.
this is why izzo is a great coach. even me a michigan fan know that. this is why if all goes well we will have both basketball and football programs that will look forward to msu games.
treetowncartel
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 4:27 p.m.
Until we can out recruit MSU in our own state they are still reigning supreme. Mr. Basketball is once again going to MSU.
Blue Marker
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 7:50 p.m.
I've got to disagree. UM and MSU will rarely go after the same player. JB has a certain type of player he wants for his system and that player isn't always going to be Mr. Basketball. Hardaway Jr. wasn't a highly regarded recruit and that seems to be working out pretty well. MSU was loaded with talent this year and that didn't work out so well. They're two completely different approaches to the same goal. UM will be just fine.
Fred Zimmerman
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 3 p.m.
"We had some bigger wins than they had?" really? You also had some WAY BIGGER chokes than we had, and finished WEAK.
JimB
Wed, Mar 23, 2011 : 2:36 p.m.
This article doesn't do Izzo's quote justice from the original press conference. However, it is nice to finally see UofM back to a level of respect after so many years of embarassing basketball. Finally things will be fun again between two rivals.