Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo is currently one win away from 400 career victories, a milestone that only a handful of college coaches have reached.
With the feat locked up though, Izzo unsurprisingly downplayed the achievement as he stacked the number up against other college coaches from around the country.
“The truth is, it does mean nothing to me and I don’t say it humbly,” Izzo said while mentioning the higher win totals from the likes of Bob Huggins, Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski’s “two million.”
“It just seems like in the big picture of things, 400 wins is 400 wins. I guess what I’d be proudest about of the 400 wins would be we’ve done it in a decent period of time. I think, for the most part, we did it playing an incredibly demanding schedule just about every year, and it means there is some consistency.”
Despite Izzo’s downplay his current players still want to be responsible for getting their coach his 400th win.
“It means a lot to be a part of something a lot of guys have built. It’s nothing that we can take credit for – we just kind of contributed to it a little bit – but that was something that just goes along with everything that the past players did before you,” senior forward Draymond Green said. “We know we have to come out and bring the energy and have that energy level that it takes to win, but just to be a part of it is going to mean a lot. …
“When you’re a part of historic milestones like that, it means a lot to play for.”
Izzo critical of the Izzone
The Izzone has endured some criticism lately for not being rowdy enough.
However, Izzo commented Monday that he was quite displeased with some of the actions the students have taken during games in the Izzone.
During Saturday’s game with Purdue at the Breslin, Izzo took exception to comments made toward Purdue forward Robbie Hummel about his ACL injuries the past couple of seasons.
“I will be sending out another email to my favorite group, our students, and just let them know how big of an impact one idiot can have on a bunch of good people,” Izzo said. “To be that ignorant that you talk about an injury is unacceptable. …
“Would I love to see that kid and tell him what I think of who he is and what he is? Yeah, I would. I mean, it’s below the belt when a guy’s battled through two knee injuries and you say something about his knee. It’s just uncalled for. It’s ridiculous. So if that made (Purdue coach) Matt Painter mad, I completely understand.”
According to the Lansing State Journal, Izzo stated that the student wasn’t identified and that there’s only so much he control off the court when a game is going on.
“If there was a group cheer or something like that, I could control that. I cannot control an individual person, nor can I control a guy at Michigan that says something or a guy at Indiana that says something or Wisconsin,” Izzo said. “I can’t control all those things.”
Izzo has since talked to Painter about what happened. Painter too was vocal after the game in regards to how he felt about the comments.
Ref: Lansing State Journal, FOXSports.com (image)