Am I the Only one that Believes Izzo Choked Today?

[NolePride]

Izzo is an elite coach. It's hard to coach college players now. Watch their game. You can set up a play and by the time the hotdogging in the lane is over, there's another foul on somebody. Rinse and repeat. You get a dunk, a putback,a 3-pointer or something that clanks off the rim 6 times and falls in. You recruit guys who can jump, run hard and rebound. After that, you just maintain order. If I need to win a big game, Izzo is on my very short list of guys who should coach it.

I might question you a bit on the game being harder to "coach college players" now.

It is harder to coach elite players now, but not the average college player. You watch Gonzaga or Butler
play. Everybody knows what they are supposed to do. They all hustle, they all work hard. They're
focused and they don't rattle. Plus, they can actually dribble and know what the hell is going on.
They play defense with their feet, not the elite 5-star reach in.

These are the twins of Boise State in football. They prepare themselves physically and work year round
to make themselves better and beat more talented teams because of their hardwork.

Izzo is probably ranked high in the group of teams/coaches that are headmasters of an asylum.

Self and Calipari are probably the best. They know how to talk to those folks and get them to
perform. Calipari is probably the best but not because of x's and o's or even his talk...but the
depth of his roster. You can't fuck off at UK and play because he has a deep bench and will yank
somebody quickly. That depth helps the elite realize they can't take any day's off. Thus they have
to perform to their talent level.

The problem facing these coaches in the NCAA's is getting to the Sweet 16. Usually most of the
overachievers are gone by then and it is elite vs elite. No sense, no focus, just run and jump and dunk.
Along with throwing up a 30 foot 3, when leading by 5 with 3 minutes to play with 20 seconds left on the
shot clock.

The fact is, they can't control their people and when their people don't want to play...they don't and there
is nothing these coaches can do about it.

 

[JohnU]

While I will agree he's a very good coach, I don't know that I would put him in the "elite" status. Very, very few coached in my opinion deserve that "title".

For the record, I'm not a homer either when it comes to Cal at UK. I think he's actually a much better X's & O's guy than people give him credit for but not Elite. I mean for comparison, he has 6 Final Fours and 1 National Title.

Random question, who would be your top 5 coaches (active right now) in the college game? I'm just wondering and not trying to argue because it's obviously an opinion based question.

I don't know if there are 5 who boil to the surface. I liked Shaka Smart for awhile. Obviously Williams and "K" have tons of success. I don't like Huggins, but he wins. Are any of these elite? Yeah, it's a matter of definition. I think Izzo has withstood time as a contender. There are very few Dean Smiths and Woodens in today's game. it's about recruiting more than coaching. Self at Kansas is pretty durable. Mark Few might be the best of the bunch.

 

[Lions=TeHsUcKs]

Izzo has choked the last 3 years and in 2012 against Uconn. Dude should have won the title those years. MTSU, Uconn and now Cuse here. Dude is like 1-11 vs coach K 0-7 vs Roy William and 1-5 vs Boeheim, which is a joke. That should go against his accomplishments. He gets out coached by decent coaches.

 

[UKnation87]

Izzo has choked the last 3 years and in 2012 against Uconn. Dude should have won the title those years. MTSU, Uconn and now Cuse here. Dude is like 1-11 vs coach K 0-7 vs Roy William and 1-5 vs Boeheim, which is a joke. That should go against his accomplishments. He gets out coached by decent coaches.

He wasn't going to win in 2012 man... that UK was scary good and would have beaten Mich St to death had they played.

Besides, Izzo lost to Pitino in 2012 and K in 2013.

 

[Lions=TeHsUcKs]

He wasn't going to win in 2012 man... that UK was scary good and would have beaten Mich St to death had they played.

Besides, Izzo lost to Pitino in 2012 and K in 2013.

It was 2014. I got the year wrong.

 

[UKnation87]

It was 2014. I got the year wrong.

Gotcha... yeah UK needed a handful of "miracle" shots that year to play for the championship. Mich St would have probably beaten us that year.

 

[SJ76]

How many threes did they take today when they had a big man, in the lane, 6 feet from the
Hoop?

I started believing that Izzo must have had other plans next weekend and couldn't be saddled
with playing another game.

Said about the same thing to a few people. Jacking 3s all day isn't their game. Banging inside and playing great D is.

 

[douggie]

 

[Fountain City Blues]

538 now has Boeheim as king of winning in the tournament when he isn't supposed to relative to seed. How poetic.

P.S. what a bad way to think about evaluating coaches

 

[jonvi]

How many threes did they take today when they had a big man, in the lane, 6 feet from the
Hoop?

I started believing that Izzo must have had other plans next weekend and couldn't be saddled
with playing another game.

Personally.....I think the man's a damn good coach.

 

[Hitman Hart]

Personally.....I think the man's a damn good coach.

He's decent. He's no Kevin Stallings, tho

 

[jonvi]

He's decent. He's no Kevin Stallings, tho

He's gotten a lot out of his teams at MSU. Kids are not lining up out the door to get there. He's a bit old school in dicipline and kids must play his way or they don't see the court. So he's not an attractive stop for many of the over priviledged youth.

Like SU, he gets what KU, UK and UNC's of the world kick to the curb. He may get lesser recruits than SU overall.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

He's gotten a lot out of his teams at MSU. Kids are not lining up out the door to get there. He's a bit old school in dicipline and kids must play his way or they don't see the court. So he's not an attractive stop for many of the over priviledged youth.

Like SU, he gets what KU, UK and UNC's of the world kick to the curb. He may get lesser recruits than SU overall.

Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson are not NBA nobodies... I don't want to hear anything ever again about how if Izzo had NBA talent he'd be better or some such.

 

[CycleandJazz]

Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson are not NBA nobodies... I don't want to hear anything ever again about how if Izzo had NBA talent he'd be better or some such.

His system takes time to fully grasp. Jackson was a lost Bambi on the floor for most of the season, especially on defense. Great talent, but not highly developed yet as a player.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

His system takes time to fully grasp. Jackson was a lost Bambi on the floor for most of the season, especially on defense. Great talent, but not highly developed yet as a player.

This is actually a fair point, imo. I just hate the recruiting argument to boost Izzo instead of the teams he puts out there for better or worse.

 

[The Q]

How many threes did they take today when they had a big man, in the lane, 6 feet from the
Hoop?

I started believing that Izzo must have had other plans next weekend and couldn't be saddled
with playing another game.

That player at the FT line (15 feet away btw) treated the ball like a live hand grenade.

he shoudl've put bridges on the FT line with 3 guards.

 

[7Samurai13]

I said it earlier in the year, Michigan State basketball has turned into Michigan football, looks good against bad teams but when the pressure is on it folds like a lawn chair.