Izzo Says Spartans Have Better Leadership This Season
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - The Michigan State Spartans advanced to the Elite Eight last season and enter this season with a roster that includes nine juniors and seniors. Not surprisingly, head coach Tom Izzo said he likes what he has seen from the group.
"It's a team with the same kind of passion we had last year, the same kind of camaraderie, but a little better leadership," Izzo said Thursday at the Big Ten's media day. "Last year just wasn't -- it wasn't a strength of our team. It wasn't necessarily a weakness, but we had -- we didn't have quite the leadership that I think we have with Travis Trice and Denzel Valentine."
Izzo said Branden Dawson will also be a key for the Spartans this season.
"Does he take another step up, does he average the 15, 16 points, eight, nine rebounds that he did the last six, seven games of the season once he got back?" Izzo said. "If he does that, I think this team could progress greatly here in the months to come."
Michigan State, a perennial national championship contender with Izzo at the helm, last went to the Final Four in 2010. The Spartans won it all in 2000, and no Big Ten team has done so since then. Izzo said the drought does impact the national perception of the conference.
"I do think it affects it somewhat," Izzo said. "It's not kind of like what's happened in football with the SEC. It's not to that extent. But I just know that to win one you've got to be so good and so lucky, both, and what I've enjoyed about our league is we've sent a lot of people to that Final Four, and we've been in the mix. When you're in the mix, sometimes it's a call, sometimes it's an injury, sometimes another team just plays better that day. But I think I'm proud of the fact that even though we haven't won another one, we have had a lot of teams either in that Final Four or those Elite Eight games, and that really speaks a lot about the quality of your conference and the number of teams we're getting in.
"The team that doesn't quite get in that maybe should have last year goes and wins the NIT," Izzo continued. "That talks about the strength of your conference. Does it hurt it? I don't know if anybody looks at winning national championships that hurt it as much as who's going to the NBA."
