We know Tom Izzo can recruit, but damn

In the span of 12 days, Tom Izzo has put together the foundation for a star-studded recruiting class. In 2011. And 2012.

Its incredible, really. In the last 12 days, Izzo has received commitments from five different recruits. At this rate, he will be able to take the next two summers off. A quick rundown of the guys he's landed (h/t Mike Miller):

• Kenny Kaminski (committed July 31) is a 6-7, 180-pound wing from Ohio who's a 2012 prospect.
• Branden Dawson (Aug. 4), is a five-star, 6-6, 200-pound small forward. He's the prize of MSU's 2011 class.
• Travis Trice (Aug. 4), a 5-11, 160-pound guard who'll provide depth I the 2011 group.
• Denzel Valentine (Aug. 9) the 6-5, 205-pound Lansing product is a 2012 prospect who'll probably be rated as a four-star prospect.
• Matt Costello (Aug. 10), a 6-8, 210-pound forward who's described as scrappy and a good passing big man. He's also a 2012 prospect.

Now, keep in mind that Izzo already has gotten commitments from Dwuan Anderson (a four-star SG) and Brandon Kearney (a three-star SG) in the class of 2011, and his recruiting haul this year is far from shabby. A four man class, it is headlined by top 20 center Adriean Payne and top 50 guard Keith Appling.

So as you can see, Sparty can rest easy that they will, at the very least, have a significant amount of talent on their roster for the foreseeable future.

Why?

Izzo isn't a coach that has to rely on talent to win. Sure, having all-americans and future pros on the roster doesn't hurt, but Izzo, at his core, is a system-coach -- tough defense, aggressive rebounding, transition buckets -- that may very well be the best game-planner in the business. Talent and potential are important, but this is a program that values the blue-collar, hard-worker just as much as the primadonna, potential lottery pick.

Want evidence?

Michigan State has made consecutive Final Fours. In 2009, they beat two of the Big East's best, who have thus far produced six pros and three lottery picks, en route to a title game loss at the hands of North Carolina. Last season, they lost their star point guard and still managed to miss a second consecutive title game by a whopping two points in a loss to Butler.

They did all that without the help of a single, surefire NBA player. Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers have a shot of sneaking into the first round with a great season, but John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, they are not.

This isn't a John Calipari class, however. Payne has some NBA potential. So does Dawson. But beyond that, these next few recruiting classes are simply guys that Izzo likes, that he believes will fit into his system.

Big Ten, you've been warned.
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Tom Izzo ends the Chris Allen speculation

After quite a bit of speculation over the status of Michigan State's Chris Allen, Tom Izzo's hammer came down this afternoon.

"It's been no secret that Chris Allen’s been in a tenuous position since spring," Izzo said in the press release. "There were multiple obligations that Chris had to meet in order to return for his senior season. While he did make progress through the summer, he has failed to meet all the obligations and will not be a part of our program this fall.

"I know he's going to be a great player. He deserves another chance to play basketball somewhere, but it’s in everyone’s best interest that it be somewhere other than Michigan State. Like every player, he has to mature a little bit. I think a year away from the game will be beneficial for his development as a person and a player."

Chris Allen has been dismissed from the Michigan State basketball team.
(photo credit: Washington Post)

Well, that's that, and in this case, the "that" could very well be for the best.

Its pretty difficult to get kicked off a team by Tom Izzo. In fact, up to this point in Tom Izzo's 15 career at Michigan State, it has been impossible. Allen is the first player he has had to kick off the team. Consider that for a second. How much of a distraction must Allen have been for Izzo to make this decision? When Izzo suspended Allen before the Big Ten tournament, he claimed Allen was not a good teammate, saying:

He's just got to learn that he has a responsibility, whether it's curfews, whether it's a practice, whether it's caring about one another, if I tell guys they’ve got to do stuff with each other.

If Allen was this much of a distraction, isn't it best that the Spartans move forward without him?

Allen can play. He averaged 8.2 ppg, played 25.5 minutes, and was regarded as the Spartans most dangerous three point threat, hitting a team best 59 triples. That perimeter shooting threat may be what MSU misses the most, but there is still plenty of talent on this roster to replace Allen. Kalin Lucas will be returning from the achilles injury that ended his NCAA Tournament. Durrell Summers is back, as is Korie Lucious. Perhaps most important is freshman Keith Appling, who may just be good enough to make Sparty forget about Allen.

Allen, who will be able to transfer and get eligible for the 2011-2012 season, wasted an opportunity to play in his third straight Final Four. And while he d the talent to be a valuable piece for the Spartans, he was clearly creating a divide in the locker. As they say, sometimes it is addition by subtraction.

Who doesn't feel better once the headache goes away?

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Reactions to Izzo from around the web

Tom Izzo's decision to stay at Michigan State is one that certainly will make every college basketball fan happy, particularly those up in East Lansing. As we always do, here is some reaction to Izzo from around the web.

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports: This was Izzo’s conundrum. He's based so much of his life on building a basketball family at State that he couldn't rectify his public pursuit of another job. Tom Izzo knows what he wants. He also knows what he wants to be. NBA coach or loyal leader? The two things don’t mesh. They never will. Most people would’ve gone for the gold, gone after the challenge, ignored the local radio show or newspaper column. Not Izzo. Not this time. Not last time. Not anytime. It’s what makes him great. It’s what makes him miserable. So he's going to be a lifer. He’s going to be known as the devoted Spartan, a larger-than life figure in the annals of college basketball. If you’ve got to give up on your dream, that's a damn proud alternative.


Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News: Izzo called it "an agonizing week" as he debated between the greater of two goods: making well over $3 million a year to coach Sporting News' preseason No. 1 college team at Michigan State or a reported $6 million to take charge of the Cavs and perhaps become the suit whose strategy gets LeBron James that elusive NBA championship. That the decision tore at him was all the proof anyone, including Izzo, needed to confirm Michigan State was the proper choice. There would have been no torment if coaching in the NBA was precisely what Izzo wanted to do.


Jeff Goodman, FOXSports.com: Tom Izzo was far too smart to screw this up. I started to question whether the Michigan State head man was, in fact, as savvy as I had given him credit for over the years as he waited and debated for nearly two weeks. For a while there, even some of Izzo’s closest friends believed he was ready to finally bolt for the NBA. But then the 55-year-old practically Michigan State lifer realized there was no way he could roll the dice and take the Cleveland Cavs gig. Not when he couldn’t even get The King on the phone.


Eamonn Brennan, ESPN.com: Want to know how popular Izzo is among Michigan State fans? Rather than reacting with distaste for Izzo's drawn-out job chase, Spartans fans organized a rally at the Breslin Center -- which included a teary appearance from MSU center Derrick Nix -- designed to keep the coach in town. Many fan bases with the Spartans' history of success would have told their coach to buzz off if he didn't like his job. But MSU fans owe so much of that success to Izzo that he could have taken months on his decision without losing support or tarnishing his legacy. Now that's popularity.


Rush the Court: That’s why it’s good for college basketball that this man sticks in East Lansing. Anyone who remembers how he struggled to keep his composure when asked in a post-game interview about the welfare of Kalin Lucas after Lucas tore his Achilles’ tendon knows how much he cares about his players off the court as much as on it (that’s just one example). His players love him, he’s polite, affable, even self-effacing, as evidenced by the fact that he apologized for taking so long to come to a decision about this job offer. Clevelanders certainly can’t be too mad at him, since he included in his statements an entreaty that LeBron hang around as a Cavalier.


Jeff Eisenberg, The Dagger: The lingering question that will probably will never be answered is whether Izzo's grind-it-out style and rah-rah motivational techniques could have worked at the professional level. It will probably always tug at Izzo a little bit that he will never get to attempt that challenge, but hopefully he'll be able to look back one day secure he made the right decision. Other college coaches have failed in the NBA because they needed to control every aspect an organization, but Izzo is too smart and too ego-free to fall victim to that. Like every other coach, however, he needs talent to succeed, so it would have been a huge risk to have accepted the Cavs' offer not knowing whether LeBron James was coming back or not.


Alex Wolff, SI.com: Over the past dozen years Izzo has quietly become an Institutional. His Spartans have strung together 13 straight NCAA appearances, six of them culminating in Final Fours and one in a national title. His program has never found itself on probation. He has forged a signature style, basketball in pads, that befits the conference in which his team plays and his lifelong friendship with Steve Mariucci. The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has honored him with its Good Guy Award for his geniality and accessibility. His anguished expressions of disappointment are worthy of Jud Heathcote, the man he apprenticed under, then replaced, and has now surpassed on the all-time victory list. And the contrasting cutaway shots of his serene wife, Lupe, are March Madness staples.


Andy Katz, ESPN.com: Walking around Izzo's Sparty shrine in the basement of his East Lansing home in October, you could see the reverence he has for the program, for the past, for the community. So often it's easy for coaches with the pro-like salaries to be above everyone, to be detached and distant. But that's not Izzo. He has on his walls, those memories from his time as a head coach, photos from the 1979 title team, and a reverence for Michigan State that is hard to match.
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Izzo is coming back to Michigan State

It seems like the coaching carousel speeds up every year, doesn't it?

It doesn't matter if you are coaching a lowly D1 school or the NBA's Eastern Conference champion. If a disappointing finish to a season gets pinned on you as a coach, then odds are good you will be needing to update your resume.

How often does a coach become forever associated with one team? Coach K will forever be an icon at Duke. Jim Boeheim is the flag-bearer for the Syracuse basketball program. Jim Calhoun and Lute Olson well forever be known as the men that made Storrs and Tucson, respectively, college hoops hotspots.

And despite taking over for a legend in his own right, Jud Heathcote, Tom Izzo's name will forever be intertwined with Spartan basketball.

You think Izzo's players are happy he's coming back to East Lansing?
(photo credit: MLive)

That's what happens when you lead a team to six Final Fours and a national championship over the course of 12 years.

That's what happens when you build an empire based on doing things the right way -- by working hard without the cheating.

That's why we were all so relieved to hear Tom Izzo say the words "I'm going to be a lifer" at a press conference last night to announce his decision to decline the offer to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Because we already knew Izzo was a lifer.

Its not difficult to see why this was such a tough decision for Izzo. Its not a secret that the man is fed up with the process of selling talented 17- and 18-year-old primadonnas on the virtues of playing at Michigan State. With the recruiting landscape getting dirtier by the day, and the cheaters becoming more prevalent and more daring, I've never seen Izzo's name mentioned in conjunction with a scandal or a recruiting violation. Given the opportunity to coach in the NBA -- something he has always wanted to do -- and possibly coach the most talented player in the world, leaving behind the agents and the runners and the handlers probably didn't seem like a bad option.

Remember, this is a man that has always wanted to coach in the NBA.

Not because of a pay increase. Not because of the prestige. No, he wanted to make the jump to prove that its possible for a college coach to succeed in the NBA. He wanted to make the jump because his life wouldn't be centered around wooing a teenager and that teenager's inner circle. In the NBA, it would have been all basketball, all the time. He didn't need to get involved with the front office if he didn't want to.

But without a guarantee from -- or even a conversation with -- LeBron James, jumping to the NBA didn't make sense.

So Izzo decided to return to East Lansing, a place where thousands of students chanted his name during an on-campus rally. A place where "We Love Izzo" signs began popping up all over town. Izzo is arguably the most popular man in the state of Michigan. Izzo is Michigan State basketball.

This may have been Izzo's last chance to get to the NBA. When discussing his future, he has always said things like "never say never." At the presser yesterday, Izzo said "I'm pleased to say I am here for life at Michigan State."

I get the feeling he means it.

And while he may never get the chance to fulfill his dream of coaching in the NBA, he can spend the rest of his career overseeing a program that has become one of the top five in the country on a campus, town, and state that adores him.

Not a bad consolation prize.

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Tom Izzo to the Cavs gets more intense, scheduled to visit Cleveland today

We've all heard the Izzo-to-the-Cavs rumors, but yesterday afternoon they exploded.

Cleveland blog Waiting For Next Year reported that Tom Izzo, in a closed door meeting with his team, told the Spartan players that he would be taking the Cleveland job. As you might expect, this set the twitter world on fire, as every big name college basketball reporter checked with their own sources, and each and every one proceeded to dispute the WFNY report.

The ironic part?

WFNY may very well be correct.

I'd be devastated if Izzo, one of the few major college basketball coaches that wins the right way, bolted for the NBA.
(photo credit: About.com)

Joe Rexrode, a beat writer covering Michigan State hoops, clarified Tuesday's meeting. Essentially, Izzo met with the players, told them about his talks with the Cavs, and allowed them to say their piece on the matter. They said they want him to stay in East Lansing, and he said a decision hasn't been made.

But that doesn't mean that Izzo is guaranteed to return to Michigan State.

According to Brian Windhorst, the Cavs beat writer for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Izzo has scheduled a trip today to tour the Cavs facilities. Izzo seems to be seriously considering this offer.

But will he take it?

Both Mike DeCourcy and Seth Davis have put out the warning to Izzo -- college success doesn't necessarily equal NBA success. Rick Pitino, John Calipari, and Mike Montgomery are just a few of the names that have flourished at the collegiate level, earning an NBA head coaching job. Where are they now? Louisville, Kentucky, and Cal, respectively.

As I mentioned the other day, it is because coaching in the NBA is a different beast than coaching in college. In college, coaching success hinders equally on the ability to recruits 16 and 17 year old kids to your school just as much as it does on the ability to create a game plan and produce an effective system. In college, you need to be a motivator, convincing those kids you recruit to keep both eyes away from the NBA and getting them to buy into your system.

In the NBA, its all about baby sitting. Can the coach corral the egos on the team? Can he make sure that everyone gets enough shots? Can he handle the fact that in the NBA, being a coach is less teaching the game and more managing talent?

Izzo is an instructor. A motivator. He is a teacher of the game. He creates meticulous game plans geared towards finding an opponent's weakness. I'd put money on Izzo having the largest playbook in all of major college basketball.

His team's are always talented, but they don't thrive on talent alone. Izzo wins because he gets his kids to play hard and to execute. That doesn't necessarily correlate to the NBA, as Pitino, Calipari, and Montgomery learned.

But in discussing college coaches in the NBA, what a lot of us fail to mention is that none of those coaches had good jobs.

If LeBron leaves Cleveland, then you can go ahead and throw Izzo on that list as well.

But keep in mind, coaching LeBron through his prime as a basketball player may very well be the best coaching job in all of sports. (Ed. Note: It now appears as if Izzo would be willing to consider the Cavs job even if LeBron is out of the picture.)

At $6 million a year, it might be worth the risk for Izzo to take the jump.

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Tom Izzo isn't going to the NBA

First, it was Coach K to the Nets. Then, it was John Calipari to ... well, wherever LeBron wanted him to go. It was Coach K again last week.

Now, its Tom Izzo, whose name has been thrown in the mix as a replacement for Mike Brown in Cleveland.

And while most believe it is unlikely that Izzo will leave East Lansing, its quotes like "I've never been one to say never" that has Sparty worried. He's right. The offer from the Cavs is too good to not consider. A contract worth more than $6 million is possible, double what he currently makes with Michigan State. And while most believe Izzo won't leave unless he is assured that he will get the chance to coach LeBron, would anyone really blame him for taking a job that doubles his salary?

That said, I think Izzo would be a fool for leaving.

Tom Izzo now has an offer on the table from Cleveland.
(photo credit: ESPN)

Izzo is college basketball. There are few coaches that can motivate as well as Tom Izzo -- have you seen how hard his players compete night in and night out? He is a meticulous game-planner that is a coaching control freak, running set after set after set. I'd be surprised if there was a college team with a more extensive playbook than the Spartans.

He's also as scrupulous of a coach as you will come across. In the cutthroat world of basketball recruiting, have you ever heard Izzo's name mentioned in any kind of scandal? I haven't.

NBA coaches don't coach as much as they coddle, smooth egos, and figure out the best way to isolate their star. College coaches are teachers, getting kids not only to learn the game of basketball but how to function as men in our society. That's what Izzo does. He's an instructor. He has made six Final Fours in the last 12 years because he gets his kids to play hard and to buy into his system. You can't coach like that in the NBA.

And I think Izzo gets this. I think he knows he isn't cut out for the NBA, or at least is happy enough in East Lansing that he won't head to the pros.

He's not denying these rumors for one reason, as Mike Miller of Beyond The Arc points out:

Coaches do have huge egos. Comes with the territory. But this isn't simply to stroke his own ego. It also boosts his program and helps with recruiting. Here's the equation: Coach + LeBron = fawning high school prospect. The more Izzo's name is attached to King James' name, the better it is for him and Michigan State. Simple as that. Izzo did the same with the Kentucky rumors in 2009, keeping his name in the mix to bolster his reputation as one of the game's premier coaches (duh) and thus elevate his program. But that's all he's doing. He'll be at Michigan State for the long haul.

Over the last few years, Izzo has become one of the most sought after coaches at the collegiate level. Kentucky and Oregon made serious runs at him in the last two years, as did the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls prior to that.

And now the Cavs are trying to lure Izzo to Cleveland because they think it will help keep LeBron.

If you're a high school kid, why wouldn't you want to play for Izzo?

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Kalin Lucas going pro next year?

UPDATE: The Lansing State Journal has a full rundown with Izzo regarding Kalin Lucas missing practice. Definite must-read if you are a Spartan fan.


We mentioned in today's dump that Kalin Lucas had been punished by Tom Izzo at a recent practice. Whether he was suspended, benched, or kicked out of practice, the bottom line is that Lucas has done something to anger Izzo.

Yesterday, Izzo spoke to reporters, and its pretty clear what the issue is:

If he wants to assume the position of being the best player and this and that, he has the assume the position of taking some leadership responsibilities. And I don't think he's done that, so that's where I'm at with it... A leader has got to lead in the locker room, in hotels, in the streets, on the floor, on the bench... I just think there a lot of things we need him to be. I don't think right now his focus is on our team. I think this is one of the things that happens often. People start focusing on things that are beyond here, and then you start listening to people and then you have problems, and I'm just trying to nip those things in the bud.

It isn't all that difficult to see what Izzo is getting at. Could it be that Lucas was suspended because he was focusing more on his draft status than on the Spartan's season?

Regardless, it is obvious that Izzo is very unhappy with the way his captains - Raymar Morgan and Lucas - are handling their leadership roles. In addition the suspending Lucas, whose status is unknown for the Spartan's next game against UT-Arlington, he also named Draymond Green and Isiah Dahlman captains. Dahlman doesn't get a lot of minutes, while Green might be Michigan State's best big man, a versatile 6'6" power forward that can really pass the ball well.

Michigan State is 9-3 on the season, with losses to Florida, UNC, and Texas and has not looked as good as many thought they would be in the preseason. Based on comments from Izzo after the Texas loss, this seems to be an issue that has been building.

"Leadership and chemistry are what's got to improve," Izzo said. "Its not an issue people getting along off the court."

That second statement is something that is not stressed enough. A team may be the best of friends, but that doesn't mean they play well together. Seton Hall, who lost last night to Syracuse, is another example. With guys like Jeremy Hazell, Herb Pope, and Eugene Harvey, Bobby Gonzalez has a team with as much raw talent as anyone in the Big East. But the Pirates just don't always seem to be on the same page, whether it is Hazell taking 25 footers off of one pass, miscommunication on a pass, or losing a man defensively and giving up an easy bucket.

It works the other way as well; you don't have to be friends to win. Ask Shaq and Kobe.

So, yeah, now we have a reason for the Spartan's early season struggles.

But don't the Spartans always seem to struggle early in the season?

Its just a matter of time before Izzo gets this group playing well.
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Jim Calhoun: Thoroughly out coached by Tom Izzo

In the past 11 seasons, Tom Izzo has been to 11 NCAA Tournaments, 5 Final Fours, and is now on the brink of winning what would be his second NCAA title in that span. There are not many coaches that can get more out of a player than Izzo gets out of the kids he coaches, and I challenge you to find someone that can put together a game-plan better than this guy.

He proved that again last night.

The difference in last night's game between the Spartans and the Huskies wasn't talent; most people would probably say UConn was the more talented team. It wasn't effort, because the Huskies left their hearts on the court.

It was effort. It was preparation. It was execution.

It was coaching.

(photo credit: Eric Gay/AP)

I hate the term second-half team. I do not believe there to be such a thing as a "second-half" team. The players are not going to be any different. You are still the same squad playing the same opponent.

What makes a team a proverbial second-half team is that they are, in fact, a better team - they are able to execute offensively down the stretch while simultaneously getting stops on the defensive end.

What makes a team better able to execute and get stops?

Preparation by the coaching staff.

That is exactly what happened last night. Michigan State was able to get stops because they knew what UConn wanted to do on the offensive end, and they didn't let them do it. They were able to score because they knew what would be effective against the Husky defense.

UConn's offense revolves around the ability of AJ Price to get by his defender and into the paint, either to score or to find someone for a dunk. The Spartans countered by putting Travis Walton, who might be the best on-ball defender in the country, on him. The results? Price never got going until the game was already decided.

UConn's defense centers around their big fella in the middle. It works because Thabeet guard the other team's center and is thus able to protect the rim against all penetration. Since UConn's guards know this, they pressure ball-handlers, and force them to try and get all the way to the rim. Usually, this results is a ton of blocks and changed shots.

The Spartans key to battling Thabeet was that Goran Suton can knock down perimeter jumpers, which would have forced Thabeet to come away from the rim. But Thabeet didn't cover Suton. He was on Delvon Roe most of the game, while Adrien was the one that chased Suton around the perimeter. About midway through the second half, Izzo made a chance, playing Raymar Morgan as the four, which forced Thabeet to have to cover Suton. This opened up the paint for penetration, and UConn could not get big stops during the last 10 minutes of the game.

This also allowed Michigan State's transition game to flourish. They did a pretty good job of beating the Huskies down the floor with two bigs on the court, but with four perimeter players out there, the Huskies didn't stand a chance. It was this transition game that eventually did in the Huskies.

So while you laud the ability of Kalin Lucas, who scored 21 points; credit Raymar Morgan for battling through injuries and illnesses to go for 18 points and 9 boards; and drop your jaw at the athletic ability of Durrell Summers, remember this:

If it were not for Izzo's coaching, the Spartans may not have been in a situation where they could be this successful.
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