This is not Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo's first rodeo. It is in fact, his 27th rodeo in his 30th season at the helm in East Lansing. He has been in this position before, and it takes a little more than just a win in the Sweet 16, his 11th, to get him excited.
"Elite Eights are great, but we don't put up any banners for Great Eights," Izzo said when asked about the magnitude of Michigan State's 73-70 win over Mississippi in Friday night's NCAA Tournament contest in the South Region Semifinals. "We put up banners for championships, and Final Fours, and national championships."
In other words, Izzo is not done yet this year. On some level, he is just getting started. As a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Michigan State was basically expected the reach the Regional Final. That mission has been accomplished. When it comes to performance against seed expectation, Izzo is the best of all time.
But Izzo and the Spartans want more, and it's the next game where things start to get real.
"It's hard to believe that in two days we're playing for a chance to do one of the all time great things in any basketball player's life: to play for a Final Four," he said. "I'm proud and happy for them (the players). They've earned it. They deserved it. They did it."
This type of statement is standard procedure for Izzo. Despite the fact he is one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time, he is quick to credit his players and those around him. It's not about him. He never makes it about him. He always makes it about "us."
Friday night in Atlanta was no different. When asked later about the gravity of his team's accomplishments, he eventually allowed himself to be a bit more retrospective, but not for long.
"Sometimes it's surreal," Izzo said. "I think of some of the guys that that I've idolized in coaching who have never been to one (Elite Eight). I'm just so pleased, but I'm so humbled by it, because there's so many good players, and my staff did a hell of a job.
"They say it's everybody's got to be involved," he continued. "We talked about our team being 'strengthen numbers', but our staff, our managers, our scout team, we've had most strength of numbers as we've ever had here. To get to an Elite Eight with a team that we all know isn't quite as talented as some as I've had shows you how important connectivity is. It shows you how important togetherness is. It shows you how important pulling from one another is, and that's what makes this so cool."
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But earning the victory in the Sweet 16 was far from easy. Despite being a solid favorite over the scrappy, well-coached team from Mississippi, the Spartans found themselves with yet another slow start. This time, it was almost the Spartans' undoing.
Michigan State trailed the entire first half of the contest. The Spartans' first lead of the game came with less than eight minutes on the clock. Michigan State did not claim the lead for good until the final four minutes.
"That team (Ole Miss) was the toughest, most physical defensive team that we played in years," Izzo said. "It reminded me of the old Gene Keady (former Purdue coach) or Clem Haskins (former Minnesota coach) teams when I started in this profession, and they did a good job... we weren't the toughest team tonight, and it pains me to say that."
When asked about what was going wrong in the first half and what the conversations were like in the huddles, Izzo was direct in what went on.
"I asked them what the hell they're doing," he said. "We were not guarding. We were not doing a very good job offensively. They (Ole Miss) had slips (to the basket). The real killer was the turnovers. We had turnovers, and they were kind of ridiculous.
"We gave up a missed cut off free throw," he continued. "We gave up out of bounds plays. They're supposed to be a poor rebounding team and they kicked our butts. They had 12 offensive rebounds to our five. So you know what you should do is give them a lot of credit, and yet give us a lot of credit for bouncing back in the second half."
Izzo's players did not disagree with their coach's assessment. In fact, freshman guard Jase Richardson, who led the Spartans in scoring with 20 points, agreed almost completely.
"For us in the first half we were not being as aggressive as we should have been," Richardson said. "I feel like they (Ole Miss) were kind of just punking us in the beginning,. We couldn't get to the paint. We were shooting decent shots, but not great shots. I think second half that really opened up for us. We were being more aggressive, getting downhill, and getting driving kicks. So I felt like we were at our best in the second half."
But as the second half came to a close, as the story has gone all season, Michigan State was the stronger team in winning time. Perhaps Ole Miss got a little tired and a little worn down. Perhaps Michigan State just figured it out. Either way, they found a way to survive and advance.
"We got stymie a lot," Izzo said. "I love these guys because they keep grinding.
"We did a poor job of just moving the ball the first half," he continued. "In the second half, we decided to drive it more. We blurred more screens. We got downhill. We got both to the free throw line and to the basket and shot a higher percentage. Then defensively, we decided to start guarding a little bit better."
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Now, the Spartans move on to Coach Izzo's 11th Regional Final, a round where he is 8-2 all time. That 80% success rate in the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament is the best of any coach with more than three appearances.
Michigan State will face, on paper, the top No. 1 seed in the bracket, the Auburn Tigers, who ended the Michigan Wolverine's season a few hours after the Spartans outlasted the Rebels.
Izzo will be looking for his sixth win over a No. 1 seed. Only former Duke coach Mike Krzyewski (eight), former Arizona coach Lute Olson (seven), and former Kansas and North Carolina Coach Roy Williams (six) can equal that tally. Izzo will also have a chance to add to his already best all-time record of 17 NCAA Tournament wins as the lower seed.
In order to get the win on Sunday and to advance to Izzo's ninth Final Four (which would tie Roy Williams for second place in the post-1978 modern era of seeded tournaments), the Spartans will need to shore things up on several fronts.
"I'm just so happy and proud, but we're not playing great," Izzo said. "We're still growing. We're still learning. I feel we can still get better, and they (the players) think that they need to get better, so we're going to coach them tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon... We're not a team that can just go out and play and win."
Izzo is a legend for many reasons, but one of the most important is his ability to prepare his teams for the second game of the weekend in the NCAA Tournament. Under Izzo, the Spartans are 25-8 (75.8%) after a one-day prep in Tournament play.
Only Krzyewski (75.9%) and former Louisville coach Denny Crumb (82%) have a higher percentage in more than seven attempts. Coach Izzo would surpass Coach K's percentage with a win over Auburn.
If the words of senior guard Jaden Akins are any indications, the Spartans will be ready on Sunday.
"We've got the best coaching staff in the country," Akins said. "I feel like they are going to have us ready to play. And we're gonna do a lot of walk throughs, get ready for whoever we're gonna play. I'm just gonna tell the guys to go out there and play with no fear, and we're not gonna have no regrets. We're gonna play as hard as we can."
Michigan State takes on Auburn on Sunday afternoon at 5:05 p.m. with a bid to the Final Four on the line. The game will be broadcast on CBS.
For Michigan State's Tom Izzo, "strength in numbers" means connectivity, togetherness, and pulling for one another.
"That's what makes this so cool."
On Sunday it might mean a ninth trip to the Final Four.
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