Michigan State’s focus is on Davidson, but Duke looms around the corner
This week, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said that the biggest thing that comes from experience is, having done it before, he knows how to get things done.
With 24 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, Izzo has had nearly two and a half decades to refine his strategy entering the “win or go home” portion of the season.
In no way, shape or form are the 7-seed Spartans overlooking their first round opponent – the 10-seed Davidson Wildcats – but Izzo and his staff mixed in some preparation this week for a potential second round matchup with the 2-seed Duke Blue Devils.
“Ninety percent of our prep will be on [Davidson], but we will look at some things [that Duke does],” Izzo said.
“I am more worried about us than anybody. As you know…when you’re at Michigan State, you look at trying to win the weekend, not just the game. But that works easier when you’re a 1-, 2-, or 3-seed and you figure you’re going to get out of the first game – most of the time, not all. But, we will still do that. You still prepare for, kind of three teams, a little bit.”
Izzo developed this ‘win the weekend’ strategy during his early years in East Lansing.
“We do go by, after my first couple years, that you have to win the weekend to move on, and that’s the way we’ve always done it,” Izzo said. “So, it’s nothing new, except the way the changes are with transfers, and with COVID and not playing in the tournament, a lot of these players don’t know.”
The strategy has mostly worked for Izzo – he’s compiled a 51-22 record in his previous 23 appearances in ‘The Big Dance’.
“The beauty of being here for a while and going through a lot of tournaments is you’ve kind of had success different ways, as a 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-seed. And you’ve had failures in the same way as a 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-seed,” Izzo said.
“I kind of understand what it takes. I think that’s my advantage with my team. It’s convincing them that they’ve got to trust what I tell them during this whole period.”
While Izzo has had a lot of success in the NCAA Tournament, with a national championship and eigth Final Four appearances, success has been much harder to come by against one of the top coaches in the history of the sport. Izzo is 3-12 in his career against Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, though the Spartans have defeated the Blue Devils in two of the last three matchups.
“There’s no question in the world that Tom Izzo, the Italian guy, is Mike Krzyzewski, the Polish guy’s best friend. Because we’ve been beaten like a drum by them,” Izzo said self-deprecatingly. “In saying that, we have won a couple of the last three.”
Asked if he would like to face Duke in a second round matchup, Izzo didn’t hestitate.
“It would make me real happy to play Duke, mostly because that means we won the opener,” he said.
Whether the Blue Devils get bounced early, or go on to win a national championship, a potential matchup between Izzo and Krzyzewski would be the last, as Coach K is set to retire at seasons end after 42 years in Durham, North Carolina.
Izzo said that Krzyzewski has done “so much for college basketball”, and the respect that he has for Coach K has always been evident.
“I sat up last night and I watched their game, and the most impressive thing – I hope some of us can carry on the traditions. When that game ended, he shook every kid’s hand and talked to the two [Virginia Tech] guards for, I bet you, six minutes. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Izzo said.
“It would be exciting, it’d be an honor. The best part about it [would be] we won the first game, because that’s going to be a dog fight. I promise you.”
