Final Four!!!! YES!!!

"I'd like to be there. Tom even talked about sending out a private plane, and I said 'Hell, I can't fly a plane. So don't come.'"

Bada boom.

He was asked what condition his condition is in.

"Oh, I'm feeling good," he said with a laugh. "I just say can't see, can't pee, can't walk … But I can still talk."

Bada bing.

"I'm so proud of Tom," Jud said. "I tell people: You know, I did two things for Michigan State in my 19 years there. I recruited Magic Johnson. And I got Tom Izzo hired as my successor. Now most people think the first was most important, but I think now people realize the second accomplishment was more important."

Michigan State's Tom Izzo is 1-8 against Duke's Mike Krzyzewski?

Forget about it, said Grant Hill, when those two square off again Saturday in an NCAA tournament semifinal at Indianapolis.

"I really don't believe their records matter," said Hill, the former Blue Devils and Detroit Pistons star. "The teams that have played in the past — I actually was fortunate enough to compete against Michigan State, Tom Izzo was the coach, I think Jud Heathcote was the coach — but that's all in the past. It's about these current teams, the personalities, the talent on these teams, and not about what happened 10, 15 years ago."

EAST LANSING -- For those making the trip down to the Final Four to cheer on Michigan State, there will be a chance to cheer on the Spartans in Indianapolis the night before the national semifinals.

At 6 p.m. Friday at the Indiana Convention Center, 100 S. Capitol Ave., Spartan fans will gather for the team's Final Four pep rally. Registration is currently taking place at the Michigan State University Alumni Association's website.

What's your favorite story about each coach?

Tim Miles, Nebraska

On Izzo: "Last year at our team banquet, they surprised me with video of Coach Izzo. It was like a roast — why he didn't like me, how losing to us cost him the conference tournament and how it probably lost them their willpower to make the Final Four. He really made the event a smashing success. He didn't have to do that."

On Ryan: "I've known him a long time. I hired his operations guy Saul Phillips (at North Dakota State. Phillips had played for Ryan at Wisconsin-Platteville and now coaches Ohio). One game, we're doing the pregame handshake and he said, 'Hey, did you see Sauly is behind against Oral Roberts?' 'Yeah, I was just watching the ticker.' There are 17,000 people watching us and we're talking about this. He says, 'They can't lose that game.'"

John Beilein, Michigan

On Izzo: "When I first got to Michigan our facilities were way behind the rest of the Big Ten. I asked Tom if I could see his facilities. He was extremely cooperative and hospitable. … Being an intense rival of ours, he could have said no. But he opened his doors."

EAST LANSING – Lourawls (Tum Tum) Nairn Jr. knows there were other, more heralded point guards than him who turned down Michigan State.

He also realizes he is now Option A as the Spartans’ first-year starter, even after coach Tom Izzo started recruiting him late in the process.

“I don’t believe in stars,” Nairn said Tuesday, “because you can’t put a star on my heart.”

“(Izzo) likes the underdog. I think that makes him somewhat comfortable when he goes after a guy like me or Tum — we’re gonna work,” said Clark, who is averaging 3.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in seven postseason games. “We don’t wanna go back to the same place we were, so we’re gonna work to get better and do whatever we can to please him. I think he likes that.”

Izzo might not have won out on Okafor and Jones on the recruiting trail, but that is of little consequence to him. Beating them now is all that matters for the underdog Spartans.

Clark was lost growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, shuttled from relatives' homes to a foster home to a domestic violence center, sometimes to no home at all. His father, Marvin Clark Sr., died in a car accident when Clark was 3. His mother had six children and struggled to provide for them.

Amid a cluttered life, there always was basketball. And while Clark's story isn't rare, his response is revelatory.

"I would just say, at the end of the day, nobody's going to feel sorry for you, no matter where you come from," Clark said. "If you want to make a change, be different. Treat people with respect. I grew up with a lot of kids in the same situation, and a lot go the wrong way. They treat people with disrespect instead of respect."

How did Dawson know how to deal with the newcomer? Because others — Draymond Green, Derrick Nix — had done it for Dawson. It's how a great program endures, how Izzo has crafted such continuity, 18 straight years in the tournament, one generation passing traits to the next. When the Spartans talk of their deep-rooted chemistry, this is what they mean.

"Most seniors look at it like an ego thing, they don't really want to help the freshmen," Dawson said. "Not here. Marvin's like my little brother, and I have to take him under my wings. Same thing with Travis and Tum. We're doing it because we love them, we love this team, and they're going to be special in a few more years."

Dawson saw pieces of himself in Clark, just as Trice sees pieces of himself in Nairn. This is not by accident, by the way. Izzo and his staff recruit a particular type of player, valuing toughness and drive as much as talent and height. Oh, Izzo gladly would take a superstar such as Duke's Jahlil Okafor, but players like that attract the heavy recruiters, and perhaps are less willing to deal with the rigors of Michigan State's style.

Happy? Actually, Clark is one of the most personable, outgoing players on the team. If there are calluses, he doesn't show them. If there are doubts, he doesn't express them.

"Marvin has had to endure things the majority of us wouldn't endure in our lifetimes," assistant Mike Garland said. "The most beautiful thing about it is, it hasn't made him bitter. It hasn't changed him or turned him into the monster that's trying to devour him. He refuses to be that kind of person. Has it made him tougher? Yeah."

Michigan State's post-entry inside screen stagger action

With Denzel Valentine at the point, Michigan State likes to run its pressure-release stagger-flair play. It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the defense and has multiple scoring opportunities. Out of a 1-4 high set, the ball is entered to the elbow post player. On the entry, the wing will make a hard backdoor cut and then Valentine or another point guard will cut through the lane, setting a back screen on the opposite post. He'll then look for a quick dive.

If neither the backdoor nor the post-dive is open, Valentine then replaces himself. The two big men will then set stagger screens for both wing players -- the backdoor cutter and the opposite wing. The first cutter will curl up and the second will look to use the second stagger screen for a corner jumper. On the pass to the first cutter, the weakside big man now sets a misdirection flare screen for Valentine, who in this case knocks down the jumper.

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:Thanks goose keep it coming

LooseGoose wrote:

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:Thanks goose keep it coming

When I saw that picture of Lucas Oil I'll admit I was momentarily jealous of you being there......then I thought about the crowds.

Today's Rexrode chat transcript....I'm telling ya, if this guy keeps improving he might make it as tSwill's writer some day.

http://live.freep.com/Event/Chat_with_MSU_beat_writer_Joe_Rexrode_77?Page=0

Jud Heathcote won't attend the Final Four in Indianapolis, but his presence will be felt.

The former Michigan State coach, who guided Magic Johnson and the Spartans to their classic 1979 NCAA championship with Magic Johnson, is firmly ensconced in Spokane, Wash., at the age of 87 and struggles with limited mobility these days.

He'll watch Saturday's game on TV like the rest of us, rooting for his former assistant Tom Izzo to elevate Spartan basketball tradition even further as the Big Ten "underdogs" face Duke in the semifinals.

It's amazing how far Izzo has come, from a part-time assistant hired out of Northern Michigan by Heathcote in 1983 to one of America's most respected college coaches in his 20th year at the helm.

He credits much of his success to Heathcote, just like I owe a debt of gratitude to the old coach for extending a welcoming hand when I was a student reporter learning the ropes covering MSU before I came to Sioux Falls.

Most assume that Green and White basketball was always like this, with the Spartans performing their March magic and chasing national titles, but I can assure you that isn't the case.

Rocinante wrote:The former Michigan State coach, who guided Magic Johnson and the Spartans to their classic 1979 NCAA championship with Magic Johnson...

Nice editing.

A guy walks into the Michigan State basketball office with his dog ...

The punch line? He got to see the head coach.

This was back in 2011, during the season when busy assistants congregated outside of Tom Izzo's office, waiting to meet with the boss.

Five minutes turned into 10, 10 into 15 and finally Dane Fife asked Izzo's secretary, Lori, who was in with Izzo.

"She said, 'Well you know, this guy came in and he really wanted Coach to meet his dog because he named it Izzo,'" Fife remembered. "Now I'm a nice guy, so I might say, 'OK, Bob, nice to meet you,' and maybe, 'Hey, Izzo give me a paw shake.' He's in there for 45 minutes with the guy."

Fife couldn't remember what kind of dog it was.

We're going to go with a bulldog.

Loyal, tenacious and slightly stubborn, Izzo treats a basketball like a bulldog munches a bone, clamping down and never letting go, shaking it until he draws out every last bit of marrow.

LooseGoose wrote:Matt Mc ‏@basketballfan66
BREAKING: Coach K attempts to strangle Izzo, Michigan State advances to the National Championship game