Tom Izzo

My coaching style isn't old school, it's the right school

When you say old school, it really does hit a sore spot with me... it's not old school. It's right school. I don't want to do anything old school. I want to do it the right way and the right way's been done for not 20 years, not 40 years, 100 years. You know, you hold people accountable. You play for the name on the front, not the back.

Great players want to be coached and pushed because they want to be the best

What I don't think people realize, and Magic [Johnson] said this to me once: great players want to be coached and pushed because great players want to be the best players. So they do. You know, it just sometimes in the high school level now, nobody does that because kids will leave.

Expanding the NCAA tournament too much will hurt the TV product in the second round because Cinderellas often get blown out after the first day

I worry if they expand it too much. You know, we have already, it's tough because we have Cinderella... the more you expand it, the more those kind of things happen. Which you guys all like the first day, right? But TV doesn't like it the second round. No. So it's always fun and exciting for you guys. And meanwhile I'm sitting home ready to, you know, whatever.

Winning the weekend is the key to NCAA tournament success

Then I learned the Mike Krzyzewski rule, you gotta win the weekend. And once you gotta win the weekend, 'cause the game isn't good enough anymore. Nobody cares. If you win one game, then you gotta start preparing ahead of time for the weekend.

Purdue is the hardest team to prepare for in the tournament because of Zach Edey

Purdue would be a different harder team to play for. They got a monster in there. He is not even human. I mean, he's guy, Zach [Edey] is, he's an incredible size, but he's a very good athlete in that. And Matt Painter does such a good job of getting him the ball 9,000 different ways that it's a tough prep.

Kelvin Sampson's Houston teams are the toughest in college basketball

Kelvin is, his teams are, might be the toughest teams in, in college basketball right now... I don't know what he does every day. But it's hard to make teams tougher. 'cause our society is so soft... they used to say we were a football team on hardwood. I always took that as a compliment.

The Golden State Warriors would not have won their championships without Draymond Green

I absolutely love him. He's, he's a versatile player... I don't think as good as Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] and all the other guy, I don't think they would've won the championships without 'em. He just does all the little dirty work that makes a difference in the end.

The majority of players in the transfer portal will end up losing out long-term

At the end of the day, the majority of kids players I think are gonna lose out. Now, there'll be a few that it works out for, but the majority... we're gonna have over 2000 in the portal. And guys are now doing it two and three and even four times. Where are they gonna have to go back to later on? ... I honestly believe that, I think a lot of players are gonna make bad decisions and not learn how to fight through sometimes.

The transfer portal sit-out year was actually beneficial for student-athletes

It is a shame that we're punishing a guy by making him go to school a year and sit out and maybe get stronger, maybe get better, maybe gets smarter... because 96% are never gonna play again. And are we really punishing them by telling 'em they gotta sit out and get better and get smarter and get their academics on track?

Purdue has the best chance to win the title because of the motivation from losing to a 16-seed last year

I think Purdue has the best chance because of what happened to 'em last year. They've got the best rallying point and they've got a player of the year. And to deal with [Zach Edey] on a second day is hard.

UConn is the best overall team in the NCAA tournament right now

UConn right now, from what I've seen, is the best overall team. And it'll be a hell of a battle if it's them and Purdue and then you, you take a Houston, I mean they can beat you different ways.