After MSU's win over Illinois, I was intending to write another article about some of the postgame comments from both Coach Izzo and Coach Underwood. But I got a bit bogged down with "real life" stuff and now it's Thursday.
That said, Illinois fans are still whining a bit online about the outcome of the game and especially about the officiating, so I thought that I would add a bit on context. The thing that I think a lot of fans do not realize is that there is a tremendous amount of respect between Coach Underwood and Coach Izzo. That was extremely clear from the post game presser. Here is how Underwood opened his portion of the presser:
"Did anybody in here expected anything different?" he askes. "Good college basketball game. It came right down to the wire."
Did he complain about the officiating? Yes, he did grumble a bit about his star player (Jakucionis) playing only nine minutes due to foul trouble? Yes, he did. He especially didn't like the forth foul. I believe that he said that call was "gross." But he also said this.
"You can't win the on the road and miss 10 free throws," he said.
That is correct. Statistically the game was virtually dead even. Illinois outscored MSU by two points from the field, but MSU outscored Illinois on the free throw line by four, despite having an equal number of attempts.
How did Izzo open his portion of the press conference? This is what Tom said:
"Wow, just another day in paradise," Izzo said. "I hope our fans appreciate one of the better games. I mean, it was crazy game, and I know we're both complaining about calls and this and that, but I thought two teams really competed. I said this before the game, and now I'll say it after the game. I really do believe they're the best team in the league right now. I'm not slighting us. I'm not slighting Purdue. I'm not slighting Michigan or anyone else. I just think right now, that was a tough team to play... I love the way he coaches. I love the way they play."
Obviously, Izzo was impressed by Illinois, and for the record, both coaches were a little annoyed by the officiating.
There was an even more interesting exchange where one of the media members referenced a specific point in the game where the two coaches were talking on the sidelines. When asked to know what they were talking about, Underwood dodged the question:
"I'll let him tell you," Underwood said. "It was really a positive moment for the conference."
As all good media members do, the same guy followed up with Coach Izzo... who also dodged the question.
"You always want to know about my intimate conversions," Izzo joked. "You want to call me at night and ask me about my wife too?"
He then went on the say:
"We were just talking about how it was just getting a little crazy," Izzo said. "I'm not going to incriminate myself either. But, put it this way, we were together. We were on the same page."
That was about as cryptic of a pair of answers that I can think of and it certainly had to do with the officials, but it also clearly shows that there is ZERO animosity between the coaches. In fact, when asked about his relationship with Izzo, Coach Underwood explained it like this:
"In 2003 or maybe 2004 I was a JUCO coach in Daytona Beach," he said. "I would get up on Sunday mornings or Saturday mornings and watch his (Izzo's) teams play. I always said I wanted to do it like that. I wanted to be that. I wanted my teams to play that hard. You emulate guys (like that) and you befriend them and start talking to them, then you find out how much you truly have in common, and what you truly value is much more than a win. Yeah, he's a rip your-head-off competitor. Guess what? So am I. We want to go to the parking lot. He and I would both go fight and see who wins, and then we'll hug each other and respect each other afterwards. I've got so much respect for that type of person. He cares about kids. He wants them to do well when their time is done and when the ball stops bouncing, and that's everything I am. We just have a great relationship. We talk because we think a lot (alike). We're both honest with each other about our teams, and I have lot of respect for that."
I thought that was a pretty cool answer, and I wanted to make sure that it got shared somewhere.
That said, Illinois fans are still whining a bit online about the outcome of the game and especially about the officiating, so I thought that I would add a bit on context. The thing that I think a lot of fans do not realize is that there is a tremendous amount of respect between Coach Underwood and Coach Izzo. That was extremely clear from the post game presser. Here is how Underwood opened his portion of the presser:
"Did anybody in here expected anything different?" he askes. "Good college basketball game. It came right down to the wire."
Did he complain about the officiating? Yes, he did grumble a bit about his star player (Jakucionis) playing only nine minutes due to foul trouble? Yes, he did. He especially didn't like the forth foul. I believe that he said that call was "gross." But he also said this.
"You can't win the on the road and miss 10 free throws," he said.
That is correct. Statistically the game was virtually dead even. Illinois outscored MSU by two points from the field, but MSU outscored Illinois on the free throw line by four, despite having an equal number of attempts.
How did Izzo open his portion of the press conference? This is what Tom said:
"Wow, just another day in paradise," Izzo said. "I hope our fans appreciate one of the better games. I mean, it was crazy game, and I know we're both complaining about calls and this and that, but I thought two teams really competed. I said this before the game, and now I'll say it after the game. I really do believe they're the best team in the league right now. I'm not slighting us. I'm not slighting Purdue. I'm not slighting Michigan or anyone else. I just think right now, that was a tough team to play... I love the way he coaches. I love the way they play."
Obviously, Izzo was impressed by Illinois, and for the record, both coaches were a little annoyed by the officiating.
There was an even more interesting exchange where one of the media members referenced a specific point in the game where the two coaches were talking on the sidelines. When asked to know what they were talking about, Underwood dodged the question:
"I'll let him tell you," Underwood said. "It was really a positive moment for the conference."
As all good media members do, the same guy followed up with Coach Izzo... who also dodged the question.
"You always want to know about my intimate conversions," Izzo joked. "You want to call me at night and ask me about my wife too?"
He then went on the say:
"We were just talking about how it was just getting a little crazy," Izzo said. "I'm not going to incriminate myself either. But, put it this way, we were together. We were on the same page."
That was about as cryptic of a pair of answers that I can think of and it certainly had to do with the officials, but it also clearly shows that there is ZERO animosity between the coaches. In fact, when asked about his relationship with Izzo, Coach Underwood explained it like this:
"In 2003 or maybe 2004 I was a JUCO coach in Daytona Beach," he said. "I would get up on Sunday mornings or Saturday mornings and watch his (Izzo's) teams play. I always said I wanted to do it like that. I wanted to be that. I wanted my teams to play that hard. You emulate guys (like that) and you befriend them and start talking to them, then you find out how much you truly have in common, and what you truly value is much more than a win. Yeah, he's a rip your-head-off competitor. Guess what? So am I. We want to go to the parking lot. He and I would both go fight and see who wins, and then we'll hug each other and respect each other afterwards. I've got so much respect for that type of person. He cares about kids. He wants them to do well when their time is done and when the ball stops bouncing, and that's everything I am. We just have a great relationship. We talk because we think a lot (alike). We're both honest with each other about our teams, and I have lot of respect for that."
I thought that was a pretty cool answer, and I wanted to make sure that it got shared somewhere.
