To players at Duke and Michigan State, the coach is the school And that goes a long way toward describing the two legends’ final meeting tonight, writes Rosenberg_Mike
Izzo would never speak like that. One of his biggest fears in life is having anybody in his little Upper Peninsula hometown of Iron Mountain thinking he has gotten too full of himself. But he knows what Krzyzewski said is true, and that knowledge has comforted him at this stage of his career.
After Michigan State’s first three Final Fours, consecutively from 1999 to 2001, Izzo alternately chafed whenever somebody said his program was falling off and worried when it looked like it was. In recent years, as he kept winning, Izzo has grown more secure in his standing. Losses still bother him but don’t consume him in the same way. Cheating coaches still piss him off but don’t hit the same nerve.
One of the greatest compliments Izzo’s program has received is on display every November. The Champions Classic features four teams: Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and Michigan State. When Izzo became head coach, it would have been ridiculous to group Michigan State with those other three. In the last decade, nobody has thought twice about it.
And yet, Krzyzewski has gotten Duke to a place even Michigan State hasn’t reached. He is 12–3 against Izzo. There was a time this would have made Izzo angry; now he sees it in the proper context. Duke usually beats Michigan State because Duke usually beats everybody. Duke almost always has more talent than Michigan State. It’s not an indictment of Izzo or his program. In any matchup of great coaches, the team with better players usually wins., Duke has better players, again.
This weekend, Izzo gave Krzyzewski’s program the greatest compliment Izzo can give anyone, the one he always hopes applies to himself: “It’s been earned,” Izzo said. “It’s not been given. It’s been earned.”
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