MSU's Tom Izzo Highlights What's Glaringly Wrong With Portal Timing

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The transfer portal opened up for college basketball on Monday, and at a rather inconvenient time.

The NCAA decided that this year, the best day to open the spring transfer portal would be the day after the conclusion of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

It did the same thing with the college football winter window -- teams were prepping for bowl games while at the same time having to manage their priorities with the consideration of portal movement, a dilemma that simply isn't logical and, quite frankly, hurts the sport.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who has time and time again made his stance on the portal quite clear, isn't thinking about it. He's thinking about the obvious task at hand: his team's upcoming meeting with Ole Miss in the Sweet 16.

"I'm not dealing with it [the portal] at all," Izzo said on Tuesday. " ... I don't run players off."

Izzo appreciates the sacrifice and loyalty his players have given him. As someone who has been at the same place for over 40 years, he knows a thing or two about true loyalty.

"What my team's done has been incredible," Izzo said. "And I'm not ready to move on. So, Jud [Heathcote], I've followed what you said. I'm going to worry today about the guys I got in this program that have done an incredible job this year, and that's it.

"And if that costs me later, so be it. But Tom Izzo isn't cheating the people that he has that have been loyal to him for this chaos that is going on out there."

Izzo's team won the weekend in Cleveland. There was a brief period of celebration before the attention shifted to the next challenge at hand.

"When I came back Sunday night ... there was nothing on my mind but giving these guys a chance to win one more game, get to Elite Eight, and one more game, and have a memory that will last their entire life, their kid's life, and their grandkid's life. Because that's what it is.

"But these guys that gave me everything they could give me are going to have a chance, and I'm not going to screw it up by spending any time on other stuff other than -- I don't eat, I don't sleep right now, so why in the hell would I do something else that might benefit me a year from now, and, really, it's not going to benefit me now because I don't know what I have. I don't know how much money I have, I don't know which players are leaving or staying, I don't have any idea.

"So, why would I do that? Waste of time."

Some may interpret it as a "rant" or the 70-year-old refusing to get with the times. It's not that. It's much more than that.

"Wasn't a preach, it wasn't a -- don't do that to me, OK?" Izzo said. "'Well, he's on a sermon now.' No, no, you're talking about something that is wrong, what we're doing.

"We always talk about what's fair to the kids. That's what the NCAA, that's what everybody, that's what the media, 'What's fair to the kids?' What is fair to the kids? I'm going to do what's fair to the kids, and I'm going to give them every ounce of energy I have until we lose. Then, I'll worry about the next stage."

Izzo's Spartans will look to clinch an appearance in the Elite Eight when they take on the Rebels at State Farm Arena on Friday night.

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