Izzo Doesn’t Need To Answer His Critics!

Izzo Doesn’t Need To Answer His Critics: Okay, what is going on here? Dick Vitale saying he would grow hair before MSU should be a number one seed. Digger

Izzo Doesn’t Need To Answer His Critics: Okay, what is going on here? Dick Vitale saying he would grow hair before MSU should be a number one seed. Digger Phelps

throwing jab after jab at MSU, and trying to land an upper cut by saying the Spartans body of work is not good enough to land a top seed, and not surprisingly, Tom Izzo throwing shots back at the national media, saying he basically will only trust those who show up at his practices and games? As Vince Lombardi once said, “What the hell is going on out there?”

 

Quite frankly, Izzo has a big enough resume where he doesn’t need to defend his team or the way he coaches to anyone, especially the media, whether they be local or long distance.

Yet, I think Tom and Spartan fans might be missing the boat on why the apparent snub is happening. The Spartans have lost twice when Vitale was there in person, first the debacle against North Carolina, and the blowout loss against Purdue. Plus, the blowout loss to Maryland will get the east coast folks prejudiced against the green and white every time. Texas and Kansas are good wins, but not nearly as impressive as people thought they would be early in the year.

 

On another note, it is ridiculous to anyone who knows Tom Izzo to believe that he would actually lobby for a higher seed. He was simply was asked why they deserved one, and he explained the body of work that the Spartans accomplished. I mean, they did win the Big Ten regular season going away. That should count for something, right? In fact, it is actually his lack of confidence in his team at times that actually hurts them. Before the game he said he didn’t feel his team didn’t deserve a number one seed, and his team promptly went out and played liked there was nothing to play for. I really thought this was a mistake. I think you dangle the carrot before your team and don’t contradict it. Give them something more to play for. Then again, shouldn’t the Big Ten Tournament Championship be enough? Apparently not.

 

Then there was the lavish praise he gave to North Carolina before they played the Tar Heels. There was so much talk about how many future NBA players they had on their team, MSU almost had the deer in the headlight look. Healthy respect for the opponent is fine, but scaring your team half to death doesn’t help you.

 

So the real test for MSU is for Izzo and the boys to go out and show the country what the Big Ten is all about. Even Coach Beilein at UM has had enough of the attacks on the Big Ten. He stated that the conference is always criticized for playing defense, but that some of these Big Ten teams will make a run because of it in the NCAA tournament. Defense wins championships and MSU has a shot like everyone else, if they do a few things …

 

Like, can someone consistently guard the perimeter shooters? Izzo can only give so much credit to the other team. The problem is, this happens game after game against MSU. Things will have to change or they will bowing out early. MSU is so inconsistent from game to game, and possession to possession that it will probably cost them in the tournament. Tom always give credit to the opponent, but if you keep saying you wouldn’t haven’t done things any differently, means you’ll be watching the Final Four on T.V.

 

A few other things the Spartans will have to do is step up in these big pressure games, and start hitting some shots. Plus, they commit so many silly unforced turnovers that haven’t been corrected all year. There is the old adage, “Hurry, but don’t rush,” and that is what MSU is going to have to get back too.

 

So that is the recipe for winning as I see it. Guard the perimeter, take care of and value the basketball, hit the boards, box out, start hitting some shots, and most importantly, play the kind of lockdown defense that saw them outscore Wisconsin 32-9 down the stretch in one game. By the way, how about the defensive job that Draymond Green is doing. He continues to get better and better. Anyway, Izzo is going to have to really do a good job in getting these guys some confidence in shooting the basketball and playing more consistent defensively.

 

How far will MSU go? Just by the nature and strength of the Big Ten, they should get at least two wins, especially if the Spartans and Izzo play with some anger after being snubbed by the nation, yet that will only take them so far. Now, if they can get some of the things done on the court I’ve talked about, it could be really fun. It’s all how bad they really want it.