Coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans Talk Butler and the Big Dance

Q.  Korie, you've been playing so well as a starter now is, in some ways, starting easier than coming off the bench?KORIE  LUCIOUS:   I  really  can't Â

Q.  Korie, you've been playing so well as a starter now is, in some ways, starting easier than coming off the bench?

KORIE  LUCIOUS:   I  really  can't  differ  between  the  two.   I think  it's  what  coach  and  your teammates asks

for you.  If you're a starter, it's more comfortable for that.  If you're a role player, you're accustomed to doing

that.  I think whatever your role is to your team, that's how you adjust to it.  Being comfortable comes with it.

 

Q.  Korie, now that you're starting, are you doing more as far as like directing guys around and being more of a

leader on the court?  Has there been any changes in that way?

KORIE LUCIOUS:  Yeah, I think I have to talk a lot more than I used to coming off the bench, playing only

20-some minutes.  Most of the time I was playing with Kalin, so Kalin was that floor general.

Now with  me  being  a  point  guard,  I  think  I  need  to  talk  a lot  more,  tell  guys  like  relay  plays,  

tell  guys where they need to be on plays. I need to pick my role up in that way.

 

Q.  Last year you were playing in Detroit, which was a short drive from East Lansing.  How big  were  the  

distractions,  and  at  the  time, did  they  seem  like  distractions,  or  was  it  after  the game that you looked

back and thought that was a lot to deal with?

RAYMAR MORGAN:  We felt like we didn't really have too many distractions.  Our hotel was by Somerset Mall.  There

wasn't too many distractions.  We were really focused in.  We just got beat in the championship by a better team.

DRAYMOND GREEN:  Well, like Raymar said, I don't think we had many distractions.  Of course you're going to have

some being how close we were to home.  But we were about 30 to 40 minutes away from downtown, so I think that

really eliminated some of the distractions, some of the things that the Final Four brings, as opposed to now,

where we're staying right downtown.

If  we  were  to  do  that  in  Detroit,  I  don't  think  we  would have  been  able  to  even  make  it  to  

the championship game.  There would have been so much more added pressure and added distractions to it.

 

 

Q.  Durrell and Draymond, can you address how the team in general has had to step up the scoring slack without

Kalin, and also how you have adjusted to Korie's presence out there.

DURRELL SUMMERS:  I just think guys have had to step their game up and just be aggressive and do whatever coach

asks of us, you know, just play together.  At the same time, you got to have fun, too.  You got to play hard,

know your assignments, but you got to have fun.

You know, I think with Korie being out there, just as he's stepping into his role, guys got used to Korie being

the floor general. Everybody on the floor listening to him when he's calling the plays, or if we see guys

dogging him, we try to come up and help him.  Pretty much a new role for him, so he needs help with it.  Everybody

been supporting him.

DRAYMOND  GREEN:   Like  Durrell  said. But on Korie's behalf, we  already  knew  what  Korie could do by seeing

him in practice every day, playing with him every day.  The world didn't know what he could do.  We were already

comfortable with Korie.  It was a matter of him stepping up and taking on a bigger role.  When you take on a

role like that, you're going to need a little help.  We had to help him out with that, but he hasn't needed

a lot of help.

 

Q.  Durrell, could you talk a little bit about how you've been able to pick up your defense the last couple

weeks, what you expect to see from Butler tomorrow.

DURRELL  SUMMERS:   Just  on  picking  up  my  defense,  you  know,  just  the  more  I  just  grit  my

teeth, wanting to do it.  I think anybody can pretty much be a decent or good defender.  It's something you

have to want to do.  I just look within myself and decide that's going to help us win games.  Everybody on the

same page, everybody playing defense.

So, you know, I just try to focus on not being the weakest link on defense and doing everything I can.  I

think I've been able to be successful doing that.

As far as Butler, I  think  they  a  team,  a  hard-nosed  team  like  one  of  the  teams  in the Big Ten.

They played pretty hard regardless of size.  I don't think they going to give up regardless of what happens

in the game.

 

Q.   Korie, your  spin  moving  has  been  one  of  the  highlights  of  the  NCAA  tournaments.

How many times have you seen that and where did you develop that?

KORIE LUCIOUS:  I actually only seen it probably two or three times after I did it.  Just growing up,

throughout my life, working out with my dad, he's been teaching me a lot of moves.  That was just one of

them that I felt it was the right time to do.

But I've been working on those type of moves all my life really. I just feel real comfortable doing it.  

I think it was the right time.  I just tried it.  The shot went in.

 

Q.   Draymond, coach has talked about the speech that you made last year after the title game, reminding

those guys that North Carolina had struggled against Kansas the year before. What did  you  think  or  

what  was  going  through  your  mind  when  you were  saying  that  and  how much has that been motivation

for you this year?

DRAYMOND  GREEN:   I  was  just  thinking  of  something  to  say  to  pick  my  teammates  up, you know,

and not completely just throw the seniors out of the equation like they didn't matter any more, but to

say  something  to  get  us  back  focused  and  out  the  dumps.  When  you  lose  a  national  championship

game,  of  course  you  want  to  win,  but  we  still  had  accomplished  some  great  things.   You  

forget  about those when you lose.

I just wanted to remind all my teammates and coach and staff and everybody, just, you know, a year ago

North Carolina was in the same position we're in now. I feel we have a good enough team coming  back  to  

where  we  can  do  the  same  thing  they  just  did  a  year  later,  they're  celebrating  the

championship.  Why can't we make that our same goal?

That's just what it was.  In some parts of the season, you know, it looked  kind  of  lost  like  we wouldn't

be here, we weren't capable enough of doing it.  We always knew we had good enough players and  enough  

firepower  to  make  a  run  to  the  Final  Four  and possibly  win  a  national  championship.

However, we didn't show that all year long.  There were times when it didn't look like we was an NCAA

tournament team at all.

 

 

We always  knew.   It was always in the back of our minds that we wanted  to  win  a  national championship

all year long.

 

Q.  Coach Izzo, six Final Fours in the last 12 years.  You can almost guarantee if you come to Michigan  State  

and  you're  there  for  an  extended  period  of  time,  you  will  be  going  to  a  Final Four.  How does

Coach Izzo stress that during recruiting for that?  How did he sell this program by sticking around and

really committing to what Michigan State does?

DRAYMOND GREEN:  I mean, you know, when he was recruiting me, coach said every player that played under him

for four years, that he recruited, has went to a Final Four.  When someone tell you

something like that, of course it's going to catch your attention.

But I don't think that was what he really sold us on.  I mean, you can look at his track record and just

figure it out for yourself.  He's going to win.  He's going to get you to places where you want to go.

I mean, I think that is a great milestone for our program.  Guys like us is just looking to keep it alive.  

You know, the guys that's going to play after us, and, of course you wish that they play for the guys that

played before us, as well.

RAYMAR MORGAN:  I mean, I really don't think coach says it too much. He's a real humble guy in a lot of

different ways.  But that

just shows you what the legacy he's built at Michigan State, what we pride ourselves on.

 

Q.     Have   any   players   from   the   previous   Final   Four   teams   reached  out  to  you  for

encouragement or have you reached out to them?

DRAYMOND GREEN:  Of course, they have.  I've talked to Jason Richardson, Mateen Cleaves, Antonio, all those

guys.  But it's not just like we've talked to them when we've made it to the Final Four.

It's an ongoing thing.  You talk to those guys all year, all summer long.  That's just a part of how things

work at Michigan State, being a family.

Of course, you know, when we make it to the Final Four, they call you, especially the guys that won  a  

national  championship.   They  call  and  remind  you,  winning  a  national  championship  is  a life-changer.  

So let's go out there, y'all try to do that and change y'all's lives forever.  They always call us and talk to us

about that.  We're just trying to do that now.

 

Q.  Draymond, back to your answer a moment ago when you said at times this year you didn't  look  like  a  

championship  team.  There were a  lot  of  people  that  doubted  you.   What has happened since this tournament

began that you started playing your best basketball?

DRAYMOND GREEN:  We just had to gel together more.  After we lost to Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament, we

had a players-only meeting and everybody said what they felt needed to be said.  It wasn't one person talking

in there, it was everyone.  We all came to the conclusion that we knew we were good enough to make a run in the

tournament, there were some things we needed to do in order to make that run.  We needed to make some sacrifices.  

Sacrifice for three weeks, who knows what can happen.

We all made sacrifices.  We came together as a team.  Look where we at now.  A lot of people didn't think we

could make it.  We always knew we could.  Everyone doubted us.  They're still doubting us.  They're always

going to doubt us.  That's fine with us.  We're just going to play basketball in pursuit of a national championship.

 

Q.  Korie, when Lucas went down, there was a lot of criticism about your ability to step in before you had a

chance to really start.  How did that make you feel?  What was going through your mind?

KORIE  LUCIOUS:   I  mean,  well,  a  lot  of  people  are  going  to  have  different  thoughts  on  my abilities

and other players' abilities.  My teammates knew what I could do, what kind of confidence they had in me.  They

enabled me to have a lot more confidence in myself to go out there and play to my best ability.   As long as my

teammates  had  that  confidence  in  me  and  I  had  confidence  in myself,  I  think anything can happen.

When that  opportunity  came  for  me,  Kalin  went  down,  I  just tried  to  take  it  down,  take  on  the

challenge to try to lead the team and do my best while I was doing it.  With the help of my teammates, I was

able to do that.

 

 

Q.   Durrell, after practice  back  in  East  Lansing  on  Tuesday,  you  were  working  on three-pointers,

taking some extra shots.  Have you been doing anything different to get so hot as a shooter during the tournament?

 What has been the could he to heating up?

DURRELL  SUMMERS:   No,  I  think  pretty  much  all  year,  you  know,  I've  been  getting  enough exercise

and working out with our managers.  I think it was just more when I had me and my teammates and coaches, it was

just more internal than the physical work.  I think all year I was pretty much, you know, working extra and things

like that.   I just needed to get some things off my chest and just completely focus on basketball.

 

Q.  Korie and Draymond, you're Michigan State, you been here before, every reason to be confident.  Is there any

danger of being overconfident against Butler?  What is your reaction to seeing the overwhelming presence of Butler

supporters in this city now?

KORIE  LUCIOUS:   Well,  we  all  know  that  Butler  is  a  great  team.   For  the  past  couple  years,

they've  been  ranked  top  10,  top  20.   I  don't  think  we  can  underestimate  them.   Nobody  in  this  

country should because they've been playing great basketball, and they've been beating some great teams.

We don't look at them as an underdog or a Cinderella team or anything like that.  We just look at them as another

great team we have to play and get ready for. 

We just going to get prepared for them, get ready, make sure we ready for the game.

DRAYMOND GREEN:  Like Korie say, Butler has been top 10, 20, for the last three or four years. There's no 

overlooking them.  I can't see us being overconfidence.   I see confidence.   You need confidence  in  order  

to  win.   If you have  no  confidence  in  yourself,  no  one  will.   You  have  to  have confidence in yourself.

I seeing being overconfident as basically being disrespect for overlooking them.  That would be completely dumb.  

We're just going to come out and play the game like we've been playing the previous four games and take

everyone the same way.

Everyone we play is in the way of our goal.  That's how we have to look at it.  We have to go through them to

get to our main goal.

 

We'll continue with questions for Coach Izzo.

 

Q.  Does this huge crowd and presumably overwhelmingly pro-Butler crowd rattling yourteam?

COACH IZZO:  Geez, I hope not.  I mean, last year, you know, we had a huge home crowd.  We also played down

here with probably 30,000 Louisville fans.  They were dressed in red.  That stuck out like a sore thumb.  At

least the guys are battle tested.

You know, I think Butler deserves to have a big crowd here and a big following. But, you know, the advantage

of playing the tough schedule we have on the road over the years, especially this year at Texas, Carolina, the

fact that we've been in these situations before in big domes with big crowds, you know, I think is good.

But at the end of the day, I don't think it will affect us that much.  I don't think it will help them that

much.  Once the ball is tossed, I think you'll see that the players take over, not the fans and the coaches.

 

Q.  You mentioned last week about being proud to represent the Big Ten.  I think you used the word 'sometimes

maligned.'  Why do you think that is?  Seems no matter what happens in the regular season, the Big Ten always

seems to have somebody here.

COACH IZZO:  Or two.  Or two. You  know,  I  mean,  I  just  think,  hey,  there's  the  ACC,  about  Big  

East,  Big  12,  SEC,  the  ones around here, the PAC-10, they're all great conferences.  They got great teams,

great players.  I just think sometimes possessions seem to matter a little bit more in the Big Ten.  And yet, you

know, if you look at the NBA, it just seems like you get into the playoffs and possessions matter more, they all

talk about it.  I think that's one of our advantages.

We don't have to change who we are, what we are.  And yet I said a million times, you know, in this  tournament,  

we  played  Maryland  85-83,  and  we  played  59-52.   I  mean,  prettiness isn't what it's all about.  It's

about winning.  I do stick up for our league.  I do get, I guess, disappointed sometimes that it seems to get

picked on.  But I also know the Purdues and Illinoises and Wisconsins and Ohio States, this year, all those

teams have been real good.  I know the coaches at Michigan and Minnesota, Tubby has done  such  a  good  job  

there.   I  think  I'll  put  our  coaches  and  conference  up  against  anybody  in  the country.

 

Q.  Tom, what did you say to Korie Lucious after Kalin went down about what you wanted from him and how has he done?

COACH IZZO:  I said, You don't have to feel the pressure coming out (laughter).

You know what, I just told Korie that he's played against Kalin every day, he's played against one of the best

point guards in the country every day, and he's been in big arenas and big shoes.  He made big shots against

Louisville.  He made big, big shots against UConn last year.  He's been on that stage before.

One thing about Korie, like Kalin, he's got toughness and he's got a little cockiness.  So he's not intimidated.  

Whether he plays good or bad, it won't be because he's afraid, nervous, or scared; it will just be that's just

the way he plays.

I'm proud of the way he's handled it.  I'm proud of the way he's handled it with his teammates and even the

media.  I think he understands that he's in a fortunate position, that he's worked for it.  Like a good assistant

coach, he's ready to step in and make a difference.

 

Q.   In  what  ways  do  you  see  Bob  Knight's  influence  in  Mike  Krzyzewski  and  in  the  way Krzyzewski's

teams play?

COACH IZZO:  I'm a huge Bob Knight fan, first of all.  When I was an assistant, one of my goals and dreams was

just to shake his hand. Bob really took me under his wing when I got the head job.  I look at how Mike talks

about Bob, and you realize that the defense, the toughness, Mike has tweaked some things with his offense, but

he still runs some of the motion, the spacing, all the things that were important to Bob.

I think more, you look at the way his program is run, the ccountability factor, how he holds his kids accountable,

the graduation rate.  I mean, I think Bob's had a great influence on Mike, but personally I think he's had a

lot of influence on a lot of us, me for one.

You know, it's great to have him around, and yet I wish he was back in the profession and still think -- I'd

like to see him do that one more time before he hangs that whistle up one more time.

 

Q.  Who does Butler remind you of offensively and defensively in the Big Ten?

COACH IZZO:  Well, defensively they're kind of like a Purdue at one moment and a Wisconsin at the  other.   

Purdue  because  they  have toughness,  they  knock  balls  loose,  they're  strong  in  there.

Wisconsin because they don't take a lot of chances.  They kind of play from the three-point line in, very

solid.  Wisconsin is probably the most solid team in our league.

Offensively, you know, they've run a little bit of everything.  But I think what's most important, they run plays,

they run some motion, they pound the ball inside.  I think the most important thing they do is they're

interchangeable parts.  The hardest thing is figuring out which player is playing which position and who you're

going to guard him with.

I think they're a little more complicated on offense.  Defense, those guards can check you.  They do a pretty good

job in the post.  Solid would be the key word there.

 

Q.  Do you know Brad Stevens personally at all?  Your thoughts on the way that he, at a young  age  handles  

himself  and  the  program?   He  seems  to  have  the  confidence  of  a  veteran coach.

COACH IZZO:  Yeah, that will change (laughter).  No, I say that with admiration.  I mean, when it becomes  expected  

what  you  do  instead of  the  thrill  of  the  first  time,  you  know,  that  changes  you sometimes.

But I didn't know Brad real well.  I met him here and there.  But I have watched his team a lot this year  from  

maybe  the  newspaper,  you  know,  something  on  TV,  just  because  I  have  great  respect  

for people that move up.  Barry Collier, his AD, was really good friends with Jud Heathcote.  

I've known Barry for a long time.  It took probably a lot of thought in moving Brad up at 30, 31 years old.

I  think  Barry  Collier  has  been  the  forgotten  man.   He deserves  a  lot  of  credit  for  the  

foresight, what he saw.  I think that's an advantage of having a coach in that position.  He probably

knew what he saw, had faith in him.  Boy, was he right.

We all talk about coaches moving on.  Maybe that AD deserve as lot of credit for what he's done. 

I do agree that Brad handles things.  It seems like his team has a very good demeanor to them.

He doesn't get rattled easy.  I saw some games when he was down three, up three, seams to stay

pretty even keel.  I wish I could do that.  But everyone has their own style.  I think his is good

for him and it's good for Butler's team.

 

Q.   All  four  teams  in  the  Final  Four  this  year  are  battle  tested,  veteran  teams.   

The one-and-done player teams aren't here.  Can you explain why you think this is?  Secondly,

when you  go  about  recruiting  players  for  Michigan  State,  do  you  emphasize  that  by  sticking  

around, becoming a part of the program, that's going to be part of the reason they'll succeed?

COACH IZZO:  I hate to see us beat up on the one-and-done or two-and-done.  The rules are in place.   

The  players  didn't  make  the  rules.   It's  the  adults  that  are  involved  in  those  rules.   

I  think sometimes  the  players  get  maligned  for  doing  things.   I've  had  some  great  

one-  or two-and-done guys that I have a lot of respect for that have done it the right way.

I think the biggest problem with that is people that are giving them bad advice.  Does it hurt your

program if you lose a guy?  I don't know.  Zach Randolph was a one-and-done guy for me, helped get

me to another Final Four, is going to be here if we find a way to win because he plays tomorrow night.  

He's still a part of things.

I think it's kind of what we do for them, too.  So that was the first part.

 

Q.     When   you   go   about   recruiting   players,   you   talk   about   how   some   have   

been instrumental for you, the message you sent to the guys here, the mental behind what it takes to

stay here and become a part of this program.

COACH IZZO:  I want all my players to stay here as long as they need to stay.  That's the way I look

at it.  You know, I like them to graduate, of course.  But if I got a Jason Richardson, he was kind of

my prototype, he came in at the end, what do you think, let me do some checking, let your mother and

uncle do some checking, it was handled so well, it was good for both parties.  It was the right thing to do.

I have absolutely no problem with that whatsoever. It  is  harder.   But  I  think  the  thing  that's  

the  hardest  that  never  gets  talked  about,  how  much pressure's on these poor guys.  You know, that's

why I've always been a fan of the baseball.  I think the players would enjoy themselves more.  I think they feel

so much pressure that if I'm not this good as a sophomore, my stock goes down, this and that.

You  know,  I  always  tell  my  guys,  The  objective  is  to graduate,  win  a  championship,  get  to  the NBA.  

If getting to the NBA takes three years, four years, or five years, think about the big picture.  All that matters,

when you get there, can you stay in there?  Usually, you know, if you're a little more mature, you handle it a

little better.

I'm a fan of both.  I kind of tiptoed around that.  But I definitely think players shouldn't be kind of ridiculed

because they're doing the things that the rules permit them to do.

 

Q.  As a coach of a major program, how have you seen the role as a head coach change,even in the past 10 years?

COACH IZZO:  You know, we have to spend I think more time -- I think one of my strengths, I spend more time with

my players on off-the-court things.  That's not necessarily bad.  It's just that I don't think  enough  of  us in

society, much less in sports, teachers, anybody, principals, superintendents, hold kids accountable, then we blame

the kids on why they aren't successful.  That seems ridiculous to me.

I think you have to spend more time maybe reworking some things that have been lost throughout their  18  years  

of,  you  know, credibility.   That  was  a  Bob  Knight  thing,  if  you  ask  me.  That's a Mike Krzyzewski

thing.  That's why he's been able to do it for 30 years.  That's what I'm working on, I'm sure, like a lot of coaches.

So I don't think there's a million things that have really changed.  I think things that have changed is whether

we hold guys accountable.  It would have been no different way back when, it would have just been the norm, now

it seems like it's more the exception.