Tom Izzo

• thedynasty1998

  

  Yea, but for the most part, even the 5* guys are not the one and done caliber. I'm sure there are plenty, but the only guys I can remember leaving early are Shannon Brown, Randolph and Jason Richardson. That's pretty unusual for a team with the success Michigan State has had.
  
  And yes, he always seems to have a team with about 5-6 freak athletes at the wing and are interchangeable.
• Laley23

  

  Didnt Peterson go a year early.
• Terry_Tate

  

  I saw a stat or something before this game that he's like 25-3 on the second game of a weekend, and the only 3 losses were to one seeds. Someone can correct that if I'm wrong or if it was for the wrong thing, but that is really freaking impressive.
• Laley23

  

  ^^Im pretty sure one was an Elite 8 appearance when they lost to #1 Texas. So that would trend along with what you are saying.
• se-alum

  

  Definitely hard to argue w/ Izzo's tournament success.
• jpake1

  

  thedynasty1998 wrote: Yea, but for the most part, even the 5* guys are not the one and done caliber. I'm sure there are plenty, but the only guys I can remember leaving early are Shannon Brown, Randolph and Jason Richardson. That's pretty unusual for a team with the success Michigan State has had.
  
  And yes, he always seems to have a team with about 5-6 freak athletes at the wing and are interchangeable.

  Thank you dynasty. Somebody is using a brain today. There is a difference between the 5* players that stay 3-4 years and the studs that leave after one year. Only a handful do it. Just like Roy Williams gets the top 15 guys that'll stay 2-4 years. Izzo gets the top 100 guys that stay that long. That's all I'm implying. No shit he gets good players. Coaches coach, players play.
• hoops23

  

  Yeah, there is a big difference between *5 players. Some are at the very top and others are closer to being a 4*
  
  A big difference from the top 25 or so and the rest.
  
  For example, John Wall as a 5* is better than Raymar Morgan as a 5*.
• CinciX12

  

  Terry_Tate wrote: I saw a stat or something before this game that he's like 25-3 on the second game of a weekend, and the only 3 losses were to one seeds. Someone can correct that if I'm wrong or if it was for the wrong thing, but that is really freaking impressive.

  I think it was 15-3 on the 2nd game of the weekend.
• 77Legend

  

  He is one of the best. He has two former Top Ohio recruits on that team that I wish was on the Buckeyes!
• september63

  

  No national Titles, yet. Interesting sidenote. Bobby Huggins is 7-1 now vs John Caliperi. Huggs wins a Natl Title to go along with his total wins Id say HOF coach!! Ill agree with Laley that Coach K has the better career but Izzo might be better now. How many titles would K have won with Mich St's talent? How many would Izzo have won with all Duke's 5 star kids?
• Red_Skin_Pride

  

  Well, it isn't just the success ON the court which has been laid out above here that makes him what I consider to be a great coach, it is the fact that you rarely hear about his players getting in trouble, him having to kick guys off the team, or even academic issues. I think you have about 6 elite calibur coaches in the country in college basketball right now, and Izzo is one of them: Coach K, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, and Tom Izzo. Some guys have coached longer, have more NC's, but have struggled as of late (Duke and Uconn coming to mind, since the jury is still out on this weekend for Duke, although making the Final Four is much better than a second round exit) but those 6 are pretty much on one level and everyone else is on varying levels below them. I would argue that one of the best coaches in the country that people rarely mention is Bo Ryan, because of location of the school and interest from "elite" athletes being low, Wisconsin is always very tough and has had quite a nice amount of success under him. I also think that Gary Williams is right there, but hasn't sustained much before or after their NC year as far as deep tournament runs. So I would put Williams and Ryan right under the six above, and probably Matta is probably not real far behind, although he needs another final four or beyond run and a NC to garner any serious talk. Also, had Gonzaga made it to the final four at some point, I would put Mark Few's name on this "level", but he needs more tourney success to go with his insane winning percentage before he can be considered as one of the top 12-16 coaches in the country.
• georgemc80

  He is having a great run in his career.
  
  Izzo's current run is almost as good as K's run from 86-94....almost. Many of those final fours Duke was a 2 or 3 and upset the number 1 in the regional final.
  
  Like filling out my brackets during those years(advancing Duke to the final four every year)...people need to consider doing that with MSU.
  
  
  Off the top of my head K's upsets of one seeds included
  Georgetown (alonzo mourning)
  Purdue (Glenn Robinson)
  Temple
  UCONN (1990)
  
  MSU has beaten a 1 seeded Duke before, so there is a feather in Izzo's corner.
• Prescott

  First of all, they made the title game last season, and brought everyone back.

  Actually, they graduated two starters, Goran Suton and Travis Walton.
• Mulva

  

  I meant everyone important, not literally everyone. I forgot about Suton though. Still, that doesn't change the fact that this was a preseason #2 team.
  
  That was probably a little high, but there was no reason for them to be as low as a 5 seed.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  Suton was a good big man and Walton was the Big Ten defensive player of the year. They didn't lose scrubs.
• Mulva

  

  I acknowledged Suton already. I forgot about him, and he was very solid. I don't think Walton was a huge loss (but obviously that's a personal opinion). I did not forget about him. The Spartans always have a solid defense, and he was pretty abysmal offensively. I didn't expect them to have much trouble replacing him (except for potentially his leadership).
  
  But again, preseason #2 in the country was the main point I was making. If Izzo gets all this credit for going to the Final 4 as a 5 seed, it's fair to point out they had no business being a 5 seed to begin with.
  
  Obviously it's still an impressive run, but I certainly don't think it's the most impressive job he's done in the tournament (and probably not top 3). Example... I would absolutely say last season, given the opponents faced (3 seed Kansas, 1 seed Louisville, 1 seed UConn, who were all legit), was much more impressive than this current run, even without Kalin Lucas.
• Prescott

  Obviously it's still an impressive run, but I certainly don't think it's the most impressive job he's done in the tournament (and probably not top 3)

  Are you forgetting that Kalin Lucas played 16 minutes against Maryland and ZERO minutes against UNI and UT? How many other coaches could lead their team to the Final Four after losing their best player and leader??
• centralbucksfan

  Prescott wrote:

  Obviously it's still an impressive run, but I certainly don't think it's the most impressive job he's done in the tournament (and probably not top 3)

  Are you forgetting that Kalin Lucas played 16 minutes against Maryland and ZERO minutes against UNI and UT? How many other coaches could lead their team to the Final Four after losing their best player and leader??

  Lucas is not the leader of this team. He and Izzo have butted heads many a time about his lack of leadership qualities. Thats well documented. I'm not on the inside obviously, but I'd say that Raymont Morgan is the leader of this team this year.
  Izzo has done a great job no question. But I agree with Mulva that Izzo has done better jobs getting to the final 4.
• Terry_Tate

  

  CinciX12 wrote:

  Terry_Tate wrote: I saw a stat or something before this game that he's like 25-3 on the second game of a weekend, and the only 3 losses were to one seeds. Someone can correct that if I'm wrong or if it was for the wrong thing, but that is really freaking impressive.

  I think it was 15-3 on the 2nd game of the weekend.

  You're right, it was 15-3, now 16-3 on the 2nd game of the weekend. The 25-3 was his record against lower seeds, which is now 26-3.
• se-alum

  

  Regardless of whether Lucas is a good leader or not, he is the best player on the team. It's pretty impressive to win basically 3 games w/o your best player.
• thedynasty1998

  

  CBF is always stretching for arguments. Have you heard Izzo's comments about the leadership that Lucus is demonstrating while being on the sidelines? He made a point to acknowledge Lucas after the game saying he couldn't have done it without him because he's on the sidelines calling out plays and coaching up his teammates. Sounds like a leader to me.
• centralbucksfan

  thedynasty1998 wrote: CBF is always stretching for arguments. Have you heard Izzo's comments about the leadership that Lucus is demonstrating while being on the sidelines? He made a point to acknowledge Lucas after the game saying he couldn't have done it without him because he's on the sidelines calling out plays and coaching up his teammates. Sounds like a leader to me.

  Ya, like this is something special. How often do we hear of injured players doing this on the bench? Good for Lucas.
• thedynasty1998

  

  Why try to discredit him as a leader then?
• Prescott

  Lucas is not the leader of this team.

  Whether he is a leader or not is irrelevant. Nobody knows for sure.The fact is he was their moist productive player and a player good enough to be the Big 10 POY, which he was. The fact that MSU got to the Final Four is a testament to Izzo and also an indication of how weak this year's field really was.
• spartybbcoach

  

  Hey Mulva, quit crying the blues because your over rated Buckeyes crashed again. They were out coached by Pearl. Tom Izzo deserves all the credit he recieves, and yes at times they do over achieve. But I woukld rather over achieve, then due what Matta does and under achieve every year. Typical OSU fan, always has excuses and can not accept that maybe there are better teams out there. Piss Off