Izzo places blame on team, himself, and Izzone
Shortly after MSU’s NCAA Tournament loss to George Mason, Tom Izzo vowed that he was going to get the program back to its roots of tough basketball, defense, and rebounding. He has wasted no time and seems to be going for the symbolic offensive rebound himself. The Lansing State Journal reports that at Tuesday’s round table session with reporters Izzo placed blame for the down year on several factors including the team, himself. and the Izzone.
Q: How many empty seats did you have in the student section?
Izzo: Some. Does anybody consider this top three in the Big Ten right now? Maybe four? … Or a top 10 in the country? It was, and when I say I’ve got to readjust and look at everything, I’m gonna tell you, it’s gonna be looked at from how we sell tickets to how we recruit, what we do in the weight room, what we do in the training room, what we do in the equipment room. And that’s good. Everybody should have to do that once in awhile…
…There’s a lot of aspects of it. You know, was this as good a home crowd as it was five years ago? Anybody here think it was? I’m gonna get killed for saying that, but is it? No.
In the same story, Izzo seems to think that Shannon Brown wants to return for his senior season but he may encourage him to explore his NBA chances this offseason without hiring an agent.
Izzo said he believes that junior guard Shannon Brown sincerely wants to return for his senior season. But Izzo said he’ll look into Brown’s NBA draft prospects, and might encourage him to play in the predraft camp without hiring an agent. That way, Brown can see how he stacks up but still return to school if he’s not a definite first-round pick.