Izzo Targets Championship Win: Strategy & Focus Discussed

Watch Izzo Targets Championship Win: Strategy & Focus Discussed - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00We'll start the night in Atlanta where Michigan State and Ole Miss are going to get together.

00:05Of course we heard from Tom Izzo earlier in the week, he made it very clear he wasn't

00:09talking NIL yesterday, but he is talking about how all that matters to him at this point

00:16is you gotta win championships.

00:18Winning tournament games, that's for the birds.

00:20I gotta bring a title back to East Lansing.

00:22Once you win a national championship, winning a tournament game means nothing.

00:27I mean, to our fans it doesn't mean much, but to me it doesn't mean as much.

00:34Finishing third in the Big Ten a couple times, or fifth, was okay, because maybe we weren't

00:38that good, but it just doesn't turn me on, it doesn't do anything for me.

00:42So I have to figure out a way to try to win championships.

00:48Well, we won the Big Ten by three games, which, if I was to be very honest, was shocking to

00:53me.

00:54Probably if I really looked at all the teams that are left, there's gotta be some common

00:59denominator.

01:00I mean, somebody could have just an incredible amount of talent, but the gist of it is you

01:05better be pretty focused, pretty disciplined, pretty accountable, and pretty together and

01:11connected if you're going to move on unless you have unbelievable talent.

01:17And maybe there's one or two that do, but most of them don't.

01:21Listen, I agree with him.

01:22The one thing that he always talks about, and I've heard him talk many times, is about

01:27the focus and the communication on the court.

01:30You have to talk, you have to know everything that's going on at all times in a game of

01:35this magnitude.

01:37In a game, a regional semi, a regional final, a Final Four game, a title game, you have

01:43to have the ultimate level of focus and communication between the players and the coaching staff.

01:50Everything has to be zeroed in on that.

01:54Talking, knowing, everything has to be precise.

02:00There can't be mistakes made.

02:02You watch that Florida team last night with 17 turnovers, they're lucky they won.

02:07I gotta tell you, you turn the ball over 17 times in a game, you deserve to lose.

02:11So he knows he can win this if they focus and communicate enough.

02:16I think they got their hands full tonight.

02:19I think this Ole Miss team shoots better than Michigan State.

02:22I think Michigan State beats them with rebounding and physicality and defense.

02:28That's how they're going to beat them.

02:29And they got to communicate, because this Ole Miss...