74
LAHAINA » The learning never stops for Tom Izzo, even after a national championship, six Final Fours in 12 years and numerous accolades at Michigan State.
And there was definitely a lesson to be learned from the previous trip to Hawaii by Izzo’s Spartans. Second-ranked MSU is back on Maui for the first time since its 2005 season started in disastrous fashion on Oahu.
In a stopover at the Stan Sheriff Center against Hawaii prior to the EA Sports Maui Invitational, several of No. 4 MSU’s players — including Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager and Paul Davis — succumbed to severe cramping, contributing to an 84-62 loss to the Rainbow Warriors.
"Well, that stopover wasn’t a good stopover," Izzo conceded yesterday during a coaches news conference for the 2010 Maui Invitational. "I think it was bad planning on the coaches’ part. Should have got over there a day earlier, and how we handled it. We drank a lot more water this time, ate a lot more bananas.
"I think in general, we tried to be a little smarter in how we’ve done things."
With a little different preparation — two home games in East Lansing, Mich., but nothing against the Rainbows — MSU is poised to contend for its first Maui title under its 16-year head coach.
The Spartans (2-0) headline a loaded field that opens competition today. MSU, which returns the core of its Final Four team of last season, takes on Division II host Chaminade at 4:30 p.m.
The other first-round games at the Lahaina Civic Center are Wichita State vs. Connecticut (10 a.m.), No. 12 Kentucky vs. Oklahoma (12:30 p.m.) and No. 17 Washington vs. Virginia (7 p.m.).
Expectations are high for MSU nationally and from within the field as well.
"It’s a great field. Obviously, Michigan State should win it going away," remarked Jim Calhoun, coach of the 2-0 Connecticut Huskies. "I think Tom’s got one of the finer teams I’ve seen in maybe 10, 20 years."
Izzo, whose 364 wins is fourth-most all-time in college basketball over a 15-year span, wasn’t having any of it.
"Calhoun must be drinking the Hawaiian hoochie or something," Izzo said. "But we got, I think, one of the more experienced teams here. Probably Washington and Wichita State are the most experienced teams. But you gotta play. It seems very seldom do the favorites win out here. We got our work cut out."
Michigan State will look to senior guards Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers to set the tone, while junior forward Draymond Green provides a little bit of everything.
Izzo thought the 2005 Spartans, who won 22 games, might have been his best Maui team. Three days after the Hawaii loss, that group lost a triple-overtime thriller to Gonzaga and won in overtime vs. Arizona.
He almost didn’t have another chance at Maui glory. Izzo, one of the biggest names in college basketball, considered taking the head coaching job with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers in the summer before declaring himself a Spartan "for life." He was recently awarded a $500,000-per-year raise by MSU, putting him at $3.49 million per year.
Izzo won his head coaching debut against Chaminade on Maui in 1995. And Chaminade coach Matt Mahar debuted against Izzo’s Spartans in 2005.
"Really cool guy, you can tell he has a genuine interest in the tournament," Mahar said. "I’m so glad he stayed in college basketball. He’s one of those guys you want to see in college.
"There’s no sneaking up on him, even if you could. He knows. He’s been there before, and he knows sometimes the guys on those teams don’t really get up to play our game, because it is a Division II program and they, in the end, should walk on us. But he knows, and he prepares his team well for that."
The Silverswords are injury-wracked, but Izzo isn’t taking anything for granted, especially after his last trip to the islands. He also remembers how his debut win came by just four points over the giant-killing Silverswords.
"I’ve always believed in this tougher nonconference schedule," Izzo said. When you go inter-conference, you kind of get more prepared for what’s hopefully going to be in the future. And I think this tournament does that for you."
