Quote:
Originally Posted by lockman21
Notice I said arguably.
That said, he's so ridiculously unappreciated. Your post is proof.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/column...ndy&id=2862538
Jud Heathcote was a great coach, no doubt, but in his 20 years as coach, they only went to the tournament 9 times, so it's not like Izzo took a powerhouse (Duke/UCLA/UK/UNC/KU) that could recruit for itself.
Izzo has been to every single tournament since the 97-98 season! Since then, he has been to more Final Four's then any other school, been to two national championship games, won one of them, sent 11 players to the NBA since 2000, and coached 4 Big 10 POY's. I would also like to add that Izzo has been to 8 of the last 11 Sweet 16's and 5 of the last 11 Final Four's. That's just ridiculous. Shit, try to convince some kids outside Michigan to come play up in fucking East Lansing in the winter. Fuck. That. The guy can flat out recruit, better than anyone else in the country, IMO.
He built himself a powerhouse, and shows absolutely no sign of slowing down.
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/viewcbse.asp
^^Check out the "Head Coach" section. Tell me who's number 1 right now. He's top 5, without a doubt, and as I said, arguably #1.
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Izzo is absolutely one of the best coaches in the nation, although there are a couple of things I disagree with here. The isn't so much of an opinion, but North Carolina has been to three more Final Fours than Michigan State has since Izzo was hired and the same amount since the time you referenced.
I also don't think you can make a strong argument for Izzo as the best recruiter in the country because he hasn't proven that he can go out and recruit kids on a national level. There is a ton of talent in Michigan and does a great job of keeping it there, along with getting some very good players in bordering states, but does little outside the Midwest.
Just off the top of my head I'd say that Roy, Howland, Matta, Self and Cal are guys who are better recruiters than Izzo. I'd probably throw Pastner in there with all the work he had done at Zona and Memphis before taking over. Izzo in a second tier or pretty darn recruiters that includes Coach K, Boeheim and Calhoun.
Another thing Izzo has benefited from is a lack of early entries in the draft. He's only had two kids leave early since Randolph and Richardson did in 2001. Michigan State usually doesn't have the talent that other elite teams do in any particularly year, but they are generally a more veteran team and often make up for the talent difference with experience.
Izzo is a fantastic game coach, although the one glaring exception I've seen is that he isn't when Michigan State plays North Carolina. Sure that may make me sound like a homer, but he's tried to run with the Heels the last three times they've played when that was clearly the absolute worst strategy any team could have taken against the '05 and '09 North Carolina teams. The only chance he had to win any of those games was to slow it down and play Big 10 basketball, and that wasn't his gameplan in any of those games.