The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The East Regional is taking place in Washington, DC this weekend and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is all over it and covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage by chatting with as many Michigan State players as possible after they finished practice.
Let’s do this:
I wanted to ask Coach Tom Izzo some questions but apparently 100 other reporters had the same idea:
FR SF Aaron Henry was in the news last week after Izzo screamed at him during the Spartans’ win over Bradley but he too was already occupied:
The NCAA makes you choose whether to attend the press conference or the locker room because they are occurring simultaneously, which is why the only sign of JR PG Cassius Winston was the 1 on his locker:
I am not usually a fan of a school changing uniforms every year just to make more money, but if the staff can add a little decorative touch on the back to acknowledge an amazing accomplishment then have at it:
JR SG Joshua Langford was a 2016 McDonald’s All-American: he remains proud of that because not everyone gets to have such an experience. The person from that McDonald’s Game who he remains closest to is Miles Bridges: “he is like my brother”. Joshua also played for team USA at the 2016 Nike Hoop Summit with Marques Bolden (whose Duke team might face the Spartans in the Elite 8 if they both win on Friday): he did not hang out with Marques that much back in the day but still calls him a “good dude”. He said that Izzo always pushes them to be the best that they can be and is a true leader. He has plenty of NCAA tourney experience himself (10 PTS in a 2017 2nd round loss to Kansas) but he will be sitting this 1 out due to left foot surgery. Joshua expects to be fully recovered by August and is just excited to still be a part of the team because they have something special. As a co-captain he knows that he cannot check out even though he is hurt so he is doing as much as he can to push the younger guys because a good captain never abandons the ship:
Cassius and teammate JR PF Nick Ward finally returned from their press conference and were promptly swarmed by the assembled masses:
I hoped to get a great scoop from FR PG Jack Hoiberg, as his father Fred was fired as Chicago Bulls head coach in December and is rumored to become Tim Miles’ replacement as head coach of Nebraska any day now. He did not share any breaking news with me but is happy that his dad will get some good opportunities in the future. The 1 upside of the firing is that it has been nice for his dad to have some free time to come see more of his games, as Fred plans to fly into DC today for the big matchup with the Tigers. He confirmed that Coach Izzo is definitely intense and tries to get the most out of his players but that he treats all of them in a caring way. The Hoiberg family was in East Lansing for Jack’s 20th birthday earlier this month, which was around the same time as his team banquet, and they went out to dinner the night before. He provided the best comic relief of the day while getting wheeled around the locker room in a laundry basket:
I tried to rush back and ask Izzo a question at his press conference but somehow he was even farther away from me than before:
SO PF Xavier Tillman was named Big 10 6th Man of the Year a few weeks ago: he said it was an honor and he did a lot of hard work to earn it by losing 20 pounds since the end of last season. He had 12 REB last March in a 2nd round 2-PT loss to Syracuse and realized that he had to be more aggressive: he only took 5 shots against the Orange. His mother Tanya Powell-May finished her career at Michigan as the school’s all-time leading rebounder but he confirmed that she is now a die-hard Michigan State fan. He said Coach Izzo is always solid and does not let the media affect him at all. His key to beating LSU is to keep them off the rim and box out because they are really athletic:
JR SG/SF Kyle Ahrens missed all of last year with a foot injury and fears that he might miss this year’s NCAA tourney due to a lower-leg injury that he suffered in the Big 10 tourney title game win over Michigan. He said that he is getting better and can now walk around without a boot but does not think he will play this weekend. He was not the only Ahrens in the NCAA tourney this month: his brother Justin played in Ohio State’s loss to Houston last Sunday. Justin faced Kyle during each of the past 3 months, which he said has been very different because they had always played on the same team while growing up. He referred to LSU’s offensive rebounding as “tremendous” and knows that his team needs to lock-down on defense. Despite all of the team’s injuries this season (including his own), he feels they have a special team due to their chemistry so that if someone goes down it is just “next man up”:
I overheard FR SG Brock Washington tell another reporter that his mom went to Michigan and his dad went to Michigan State so I asked him if his mom would disown him if the Spartans keep beating the Wolverines (3-0 so far in his college career). He laughed and said that his mom actually cheers for his team now…even though she “bleeds blue”! He confirmed that Coach Izzo is a fantastic person and could not speak higher about his coach even if he tried: on his very 1st campus visit he could tell how much Izzo loves everyone on the team. He turns 20 on Saturday and hopes to spend his birthday preparing for a game in the Elite 8, although he knows that LSU like to crash the boards hard and will be very aggressive:
1 of the biggest players on the team is 6’11” FR PF Marcus Bingham Jr. He had a huge growth spurt during high school and his 7’4” wingspan comes in handy when challenging shots. He said that as a 6’2″ high school freshman he worked on guard drills, then switched to big man drills after growing to 6’7″, but even as a 6’9″ junior he still retained his guard skills. He calls Izzo a really good coach: if he is yelling at you that means he cares about you and wants to help you improve:
That’s all for now, check back later for continuing coverage.