The Michigan State basketball team is in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament for the eighth time in the last twelve years (and as I come back to finish this blog, the Spartans are in the Final Four for the fifth time in ten years). This is quite an amazing feat and got me to ponder how these are really the glory years of MSU basketball and we'd better appreciate them while they last.
As anyone who has spent any time on this blog knows, I spend a good amount of time reading MSU sports fan sites as well as reader comments in various online local newspapers (Lansing State Journal, Detroit Free Press, etc.). For every excited and happy fan, there seem to be at least two others who complain about which player "didn't step up" or how "if the team doesn't cut down on the turnovers, they won't go any futher" or some such thing. Now, people have the right to complain and express their opinions (God knows I can get ticked off sometimes about MSU sports teams), but I do wish these people would take some time to put things into perspective.
I can remember the Jud Heathcote era. God bless Jud Heathcote, he was a great X's and O's coach, an excellent motivator, and mentor to a whole cadre of current basketball coaches. His greatest contribution to MSU may be his insistence that Tom Izzo be named his successor. Jud's main downfall was that he refused to play the modern recruiting game, and consequently he didn't always have the most talented teams in the world. When Jud was coach, it was a big deal if the Spartans could finish in the upper half of the Big Ten and maybe, just maybe, make it into the NCAA tournament if the team was lucky.
Tom Izzo has elevated this basketball program to a level I absolutely never thought was possible. His accomplishments during his 14-year tenure as head coach are staggering: Five Big Ten titles, two Big Ten tournament championships, five Final Fours, two more Elite Eights, eight Sweet Sixteens. The man has never had a losing season, and has NEVER had a losing record in the Big Ten.
I've heard people intimate that Izzo is not appreciated enough in East Lansing, and I have no idea from where or whom these rumors are coming. The only question now is whether a statue should be erected in his honor next to the Magic Johnson statue in front of Breslin Center, or if the court should be named in his honor. The man could run for mayor of East Lansing or Lansing and win in a landslide. Let me tell you that this 1991 MSU graduate, and lifetime Spartan fan, appreciates Tom Izzo more than you could even imagine.
1 comment:
As a graduate of both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, I hope that Tom Izzo knows that the University of Michigan is rooting for the Spartans and that we stand together in these turbulent economic times. His recognition of the City of Detroit and the hope that he brings for our future is appreciated by all. The issue of "lack of appreciation" is a media myth, he is a great coach and a good guy, even when he yells! I hope that Monday brings him one more great victory for him and one for our State and one for the maize and blue. We stand united.
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