Spartans Prepare to Face Virginia with History and Plenty of Experience Behind Them

Spartans Prepare to Face Virginia with History and Plenty of Magic Behind Them Time Life Warner Arena Charlotte, NC Tom Izzo is not one to wax poetic. He is

Spartans Prepare to Face Virginia with History and Plenty of Magic Behind Them

Time Life Warner Arena

Charlotte, NC

Tom Izzo is not one to wax poetic. He is not one given to hyperbole and certainly doesn’t waste time trying to win press conferences. His entire focus and that of his team who follows him is about championships.

How dangerous is Izzo this time of year? The Spartans are just the ninth program in Big Dance history with 60 or more tournament wins. Under Tom Izo the Michigan State Spartans are 19-4 in the second game of the weekend and they have been to the Sweet 16 12 times in the last 17 seasons. Not enough proof? They have made the Sweet 16 in six of the last seven seasons.

One more fact to make you feel good you ask? MSU is 4-0 all-time vs. Virginia.

That is why today in Charlotte Izzo and his team faced questions from reporters are the nation about Sundays 12:10 PM ET tilt with the Cavaliers. It will be a game that certainly will feel like a road game for the Spartans, being a short distance from the UVA campus. But the Spartans thrive in that environment and the Spartans told the media why.

“Just because we just have the us against the world type of mentality. We have to pull together and it's going to be tough, but at the end of the day we're good enough players and we're close enough that when it gets tough and when there's adversity we just band together. We can do this, we've been play -- we played all the top teams in the country either at home or on the road or at a neutral spot, so it's new because it's the NCAA Tournament, but we've been here before,” said Denzel Valentine.

Travis Trice said of the Spartans prowess on the road, “I feel like we play a lot better on the road, kind of like what Denzel said, we feel like it's us against the world. You kind of take out all the distractions of family tickets, friends trying to come to the game and all that. You just really bear down and focus in, and that's when you really rely on your teammates.”

Tom Izzo thinks the road atmosphere is a blessing. Especially with this particular squad. They are one of the closest teams he has ever had. “We played Virginia and New York last year, which wasn't a home game for us. Then we played UConn there. We have had good practice in the NCAA tournament last few years. I do think when you're a close-knit team and everybody gets along so well. We as a coaching staff, in our video room here at the hotel and usually a lot of teams they eat and if there's nothing there they're back off to their rooms. It will be a half hour later and those guys are sitting there talking and doing things. It's an unusually close group, 1 to 13. They all sit there and talk and laugh. I think that's very positive and I think that's what being on the road does, it gives you a sense of camaraderie and you kind of have an appreciation for a guy more than just as a basketball player.’

For Denzel Valentine he also thinks the Spartans tradition is the biggest reason for their success in March. He had a lot of praise for his coach, “Whenever you see Michigan State or whenever you think about Michigan State history, you think about what have they done in March. You go in the gym and there's all these banners, Final Four banners, Big Ten championship banners. At Michigan State, we kind of expect to play good and expect to win here. That being said, with Virginia coming in, we put them out last year so they're going to have a championship on their shoulder and they're going to be ready to play so we've just got to particular to our principles and just know that we're Michigan State but also we've got to play how we play and I think we'll be fine.”

Trice certainly respects the tradition, but it was coaches that lead teams to banners and he differed slightly from his fellow captain’s evaluation of tradition. Trice said, “I think our entire coaching staff deserves a lot of credit, and our managers because they do such a good job of breaking down other teams and film work. As far as preparing us for March and the tournament, I believe it's a whole year thing. It's not like March comes around and we flip on a switch, it starts with our first practices and our first games. We're not afraid to play anybody anywhere and I think that shows. A couple times early on in the season we might take a loss somewhere, and people will look down on us, but we know it's only preparing us for this.”

Branden Dawson was even more specific. He loves the traditions and respects the staff, but he places the Spartan track record of tournament success squarely on the experience of his head coach. “Coach, he's been through this plenty of times, so he know what to expect and he told us playing Georgia yesterday, he said the first game is always going to be the toughest game, we have to just get prepared. But around this time our coaches, our managers, they do a great job of just getting us prepared, watching film, waking up, early walk-thru's and everything. So Coach, he just wants to win, that's main focus or us and for the program.”

Izzo doesn’t think it’s him at all. In fact he credits the Spartans success with preparation and Steve Mariucci taught him that. “You know, I think in the second game turnarounds, I've got to give credit to my best friend in the world, Steve Mariucci. Football looks at things in video and film in a kind of a different way, especially 18 years ago, I think they were far ahead of where basketball was at that time. I used to go to as many camps and when he was at San Francisco, I would learn some things there about different ways I wanted to prepare and kind of put my own thing together there. We do things in 15 and 20 minute intervals, after a game before breakfast, after breakfast, before lunch, after lunch. Trying to keep the focus, which is very hard to do at this time of year, there's parents and families on the hotel, there's games on TV, there's upsets happening, and I know the attention span isn't as good when you're fatigued and tired. So we've gone with this model. And then I stole from a lot of good coaches, Mike Krzyzewski, stole some things from him on learning how to win the weekend, that you do have to prepare once your program gets to a certain level. As I told our media, the first year I just, I was so happy to win a game I didn't care about the rest of the tournament. I thought I won the National Championship and someone reminded me we won one game, but that's how it was early. Once we got to a Final Four, you realize you go to win the weekend. You have to prepare that way, you have to make sure your players understand that it's one game at a time, but you're in a place where if we don't win two games and come back successful, it's not as good. I've stolen from a lot of different people. I haven't come up with some diabolical plan, most of my plans have been stolen from other people.”

The Spartans are 12-1 under Tom Izzo in the round of 32. That isn’t good news for Virginia either. It’s almost time. Tomorrow at 12:10 ET on CBS the nation’s eyes will turn to the beautiful city of Charlotte, NC and the magician of March: Tom Izzo as he tries for lucky #13.