Tom Izzo Quotes (298 Quotes)


    I thought they were physical. I thought they checked us. I thought they got to loose balls.

    You have to look at the first game, and it's hard to look past it in this tournament, especially now when you see some of the eight, nine and 10 seeds. Kentucky and Wisconsin as eight and nine seeds, that tells you the 11 seeds are going to be pretty good basketball teams.

    I don't know why we haven't been consistent. I've said a few times that maybe we're not as tough, mentally or physically, as we have been in recent years.

    I felt bad for him missing those free throws because he's been shooting so well from the line. And yet, it goes to show that you can't take a lot of time off and feel like you're still the same player.

    It's distracting. I understand everybody has a job to do. I just don't know what you say. You never can be right. . . . Everybody has to look at every opportunity in life whether it's in your profession, mine or the president of the United States.


    I've said all along there were six teams capable of winning the Big Ten, and that hasn't changed. Iowa has its work cut out for it, but they've helped themselves a lot this week winning at Indiana and beating Michigan State at home.

    Before Christmas I thought he was hitting a little bit of a wall, but after Christmas I thought he really started to understand things a little bit better and run things a little bit better. And his shot is getting a little bit better.

    In our losses to Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, we've had serious foul trouble at key times. Maybe we've had leads or were playing good, but it changed the complexion of the game.

    I'm disappointed that right now, we can't seem to find the basket with anything. I'm sure we've lost some confidence we're going to have to work through it.

    It doesn't feel as good (playing the first day) as we were the only team left that had never played on Thursday. I'm disappointed that we didn't finish higher but I understand how good the league is and somebody had to finish sixth or seventh.

    If you play hard, good things happen to you. And that kid plays hard.

    I really do feel comfortable that the right decision will be made.

    I've been in his shoes and know what he went through. They did a good job in the first half.

    I'm not a record guy. I don't need to win 700 games, I don't need to have 20 straight 20-win seasons ... and I don't need to get in the NCAA tournament every year if we're not worthy of being in it. If we're not playing good enough or we can't win a game, it just doesn't turn me on.

    The common battle cry is that it all evens out. It will never even out because you never know which years certain teams are good.

    The NCAA wants you to make sure nobody's fighting, and then they don't want you breaking it up. My assistant doesn't deserve any of the blame for that I do. I didn't appreciate the double-technical because I didn't think that was deserved.

    Sometimes I see things he can do, and I do shake my head. He's very, very athletic for a big kid and he's a very intelligent player. But when you start your career, you can get labeled, whether you're labeled soft or whatever. I've been hard on him, but in the big games, he has shined.

    It was just too bad because I think we played well enough in a lot of ways to win the game, but we just couldn't get in sync half the night with guys out with foul trouble.

    This is a good basketball team, and when I say good, I don't mean just average good, I mean good enough to beat anybody in this league, good enough to make any run that we can make. But there's not a lot of margin for error.

    It was clutch. That's kind of his play, where he can switch to his right hand or his left hand. You know he missed a couple wide-open 3's that he's been hitting in practice. But to have the courage to take it I guess is what impressed me the most.

    I'd say, right now, it's maybe 50-50 (that he plays this weekend), and yet I don't know what would change it, what would make it 70-30. He's going to wear the same 'Friday the 13th' mask, and he's going to have the same mouthpiece. I'm sure they'll X-ray it again and see how the bone has grown, and then we'll probably make the decision (today) or Wednesday.

    I thought about bringing out the accordion and giving them the Lawrence Welk special. At times with this group, I didn't know what to do with them.

    They played as good a last four (minutes) as you could play.

    We're all resigned to the fact that anybody in this league can beat anybody. There's never an off night. There's never a night where you can just relax. And every time you think you can, as we learned, somebody smacks you.

    I'm really proud of the effort these guys gave coming off last night. We weren't the prettiest. Illinois pressured us and it bothered us some.

    It's probably two games too many, but at the same time, it's an incredible opportunity, ... And I'm not trying to break anyone's wins record, so what's the difference

    Our defense was very, very good against a very complex offense at times. A week prep for that offense helped us.

    There doesn't seem to be a lot of hope that he'll be able to play for quite a few weeks. Maybe three, maybe it could be six to eight. But there's no real understanding yet.

    We asked Paul one time if he was doing that to pad his own rebounding stats or if he was doing it for real.

    Shannon (Brown) was very unselfish today and Maurice (Ager) came to me at halftime and said, 'I made some good shots in the first half and in the second half I'm going to go out there and put them down.' That to me is a great feeling knowing that the relationship between the coaches and the players is that confident.

    He has to be aggressive and be slow, if that makes any sense. He's gotta do that. Because when he does, he sees the court so much better. He has improved his passing so much this year. He's seeing things a little better, instead of it being a blur - because he's so quick that it is a blur sometimes.

    If anybody that ever played here hears that statistic, they're going to have trouble coming back and seeing us.

    I feel real comfortable that who we are playing and who we could play does not throw up any red flags. I'm looking at it like I'm definitely packing for two days the first weekend, and then I'm not going on spring break the second weekend. There's no plans in the foreseeable future, so I'm planning on playing some basketball.

    I told them in the huddle that we played Gonzaga and Arizona we played all those overtime games and we've earned the right to win the game. They looked back at me and said, 'Damn right we did.

    We weren't the prettiest -- Illinois really pressured us and it bothered us some -- but the defense we played and the job we did, I can't say enough.

    I think the hardest game (of the stretch) is the one (today). Coming off a rivalry game or a big game, the next game is always tough. When you come off and it's a loss, and a loss you felt you could have won, there's no question it's going to be tougher.

    He's just so athletic and can make the key play.

    I'm not sure how many people would have picked us to win either road game. We played at the two toughest road places.

    I didn't sleep very well. We got into the flow better and I feel fortunate to win. It wasn't good enough to pat ourselves on the back.

    I don't like the guy. I love the guy. I love his passion for the game.

    I'm sitting here crying about the officiating, that's not what totally cost us the game.

    The nice thing for us with George Mason is we did play them last year and it wasn't like we ran through them. We just did a good job at times and we struggled at times.

    He was good. That's what he can do He can shoot it. And I think it was good for him to get a little a confidence, some shots up and a little playing time.

    Bernard Cote played better for them and I think if he continues to play better that will be important for them in the future.

    No doubt our guards struggled. We made some big plays, and then we made some not-so-smart plays. It was a shame, because Paul Davis had two of the best practices of his life, and he just struggled tonight to even catch the ball.

    I'm not a big believer in that. The one time it really hurt was when Ohio State won the thing (in 2002) and got shipped west. That was awful. In that respect it would be an advantage losing, but for the most part winning is more of an advantage.

    What one soldier told him said it all 'You're trying to win a national championship, and we're trying to win a world championship,' ... That put it all in perspective.

    I said that there could be eight teams vie for the championship. I think scheduling (the Big Ten doesn't play a round robin, so some teams play others just once) is gonna play a part in everything. I still think our conference could fight to be the strongest in the country. When you look top to bottom at the conference race this year, four losses could win it, maybe more.

    We wanted to honor all the people who keep us out of harm's way every day. That's why we recognized our military, the Army and Navy, the Red Cross and emergency medical technicians. They're the ones who deserve the applause.

    I know how to move my body. He made a little bit of a mistake, and I took advantage of it. He gave me a little time to take it, and I took it.


    More Tom Izzo Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Games - People - Time - Confidence - Night - Running - Home - Chance - Reasoning - Place - Work & Career - Facts - Christmas - Basketball - Success - Experience - Hope - Christianity - Decision Making - View All Tom Izzo Quotations

    Related Authors


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Page 1 of 6 1 2 6

Authors (by First Name)

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M
N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Other Inspiring Sections