You’re not crying. Tom Izzo is crying.
In a college basketball world that has become overrun by NIL and the transfer portal, Michigan State’s iconic coach had plenty of love for the team he has built over multiple years after punching a ticket to the Elite Eight.
“I love these guys,” an emotional Izzo said in his postgame interview, with the whole team surrounding him.
As Izzo’s voice cracked and his eyes welled up, players started screaming “Yeah!” and rubbing Izzo’s head.
Junior Tre Holloman – who lost his spot in the starting lineup to freshman Jase Richardson during the season but has responded the right way off the bench – stood next to Izzo with his hand on the coach’s shoulder the whole time.
“It’s simple, you know?” the 70-year-old Izzo continued. “They don’t quit. We’ve been a second-half team. One of these days we’re going to be a first-half team.”
CBS sideline host Tracy Wolfson pointed out that Izzo was crying.
The Spartans beat Ole Miss 73-30 and will face Auburn in the South Regional final Sunday in Atlanta. It is their first trip to the Elite Eight since 2019, which also was the program’s last Final Four appearance.
From the time that Izzo was hired in 1995 through 2013, every senior class he recruited appeared in at least one Final Four. He won his only national championship in 2000, which remains the last title for the Big Ten.
Four of Michigan State’s five starters have only worn one jersey in their college careers.
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With the transfer portal open, Izzo is committed to his team’s current run – not building next year’s team.
“I’m going to worry today about the guys I got in this program who have done an incredible job this year, and that’s it,” a fired-up Izzo said recently. “If that costs me later, so be it. But Tom Izzo isn’t cheating the people that he has who have been loyal to him for this chaos that’s going on out there.”
