EDITOR’S NOTE: Michigan State is the hometown star of the Final Four, with the school only a 90-mile drive from campus. Spartans coach Tom Izzo granted Associated Press sports writer Larry Lage and APTV behind-the-scenes access two nights before coaching against Connecticut in his fifth Final Four.
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
TROY, Mich. (AP) – Tom Izzo walked off a police-escorted bus with his family and into Michigan State’s team hotel. He was wearing a sport coat and a smile.
The coach changed into green warmups and went through a range of emotions over the next three hours while giving The Associated Press access behind the scenes two nights before the home-state Spartans open the Final Four against Connecticut.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DURRELL
Two scoops of chocolate ice cream and birthday cake are spread on a table in a hotel conference room in suburban Detroit.
There are two matters at hand: food and film. The Spartans are about to partake in both, but first it’s time to acknowledge guard Durrell Summers.
ppy birthday, to you!” players, coaches and other members of the basketball program belt out.
“Make a wish,” someone shouts.
“I don’t think my wish is going to be too hard to figure out,” the 20-year-old says.
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STUDYING HUSKIES
“All right, we’re going to go over Connecticut’s personnel,” Izzo says in a room suddenly silent. “Focus.”
Assistant coach Mark Montgomery played for the Spartans from 1988-92 when Izzo was an assistant under Jud Heathcote. He leads the scouting report that starts with Connecticut star A.J. Price.
The guard’s game is broken down by showing strengths, tendencies, tips to defend him and statistics in text on a big screen in front of three rows of players.
Price’s play comes to life as the guard zips past opponents for layups and sinks 3-pointers from all over in highlights edited from the NCAA tournament and regular season.
“He’s the guy that stirs their drink,” Izzo chimes in.
Heathcote walks into the room and finds a seat behind his hand-picked successor. After the session, many players, including a former one, go to the back of the room to shake Heathcote’s hand.
“Well done,” Heathcote tells Montgomery.
“Thanks, coach,” Montgomery replies.
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CIRCLE OF COACHES
Heathcote holds court with Izzo after the players leave, sharing his scouting report on the Huskies.
od,” Izzo says a few minutes later.
Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik, a former Izzo assistant, pops in and plops in a seat around a circular table.
Heathcote is holding court with a handful of people, including one of his former players, Dwayne Stephens, an Izzo assistant. Stephens walked in with South Carolina basketball coach Darrin Horn, who was with him at Marquette.
Much of the shoot-the-breeze session revolves around the coaching carousel, including John Calipari taking $32 million from Kentucky to leave Memphis and Tim Floyd spurning Arizona to stay at Southern California.
Thirty minutes later, Heathcote walks out of the room with Izzo and heads to his room.
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LONG WAY FROM IRON MOUNTAIN
Izzo is making $2.8 million a year on average at Michigan State. That merits a fatter contract in today’s market because he has led the Spartans to the Final Four for the fifth time in the past 11 seasons. No other coach or school can say the same.
The 54-year-old Izzo coach not have envisioned this for himself while growing up in Iron Mountain in Michigan’s upper peninsula and attending Northern Michigan along with Steve Mariucci, who went on to coach the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions.
nd stereo on cinder blocks?
“Or, of me and Mariucci in a trailer back in the Northern Michigan days?” Izzo replies in an interview with APTV near the hotel lobby. “I actually pinch myself on the floor of Lucas Oil Stadium last week. I just kind of looked up and said, ‘This can’t be happening.’ Not because we’re coming back to another Final Four. That’s big enough, but to have it in your home state was something that you just dream about.”
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BOYS BEING BOYS
A ballroom across the hall from Michigan State’s food-and-film room has become a basketball court. The carpet has a taped 3-point arc, lane, baseline and sidelines to give the Spartans a place to walk through offensive and defensive sets they’ll use against Connecticut on Saturday night.
Just past 11 p.m. Thursday, it was a court of dreams for a pair of 8-year-old boys.
“Five, four, three, two, one!” screamed Steven Mateen Izzo, the coach’s son. He was joined by one of the sons of Tulsa’s coach.
“Yes!” Paxson Wojcik shouted after the small ball he shot landed in a makeshift basket atop a chair against the wall.
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IZZO’S NIGHTCAP:
Izzo stands at a dry-erase board, talking to his assistant coaches about two new plays the Spartans plan to use in the Final Four thanks to suggestions from his friend and former Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders.
ing as if she’s afraid of getting yelled at for interrupting the coaches.
“Come in,” Izzo says. “I don’t bite.”
Sipping from a tall can of Arnold Palmer’s famed mix of ice tea and lemonade, Izzo stares at a screen. He’s watching the Huskies playing defense with 7-foot-3 shot-blocking sensation Hasheem Thabeet patrolling the lane.
“Those two new plays are great,” Izzo says. “The problem is, you have to get Thabeet out of there.”
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