Tom Izzo was on the Dan Patrick Show this morning and discussed a number of topics. At one point, Dan asked him who the best team was he'd seen this year.Izzo began by mentioning Texas (which is free-falling its way out of the Top 25 at this point, but which beat MSU so they must be good...right?) and then also discussed Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse.....
No mention of the number 3 team in the land, though. The team that took his squad behind the shed in their own house. The team that smoked his Final Four team by 18 last year. The team that he's got to go visit this Sunday.
The only mention of Purdue was when Dan wished him luck against Purdue this Sunday. No discussion of the Big Ten race. No talk about whether or not that's a big game.
We get accused sometimes of being hypersensitive to the lack of respect Purdue gets, but again, to reiterate -- it's not such a bad thing. Keep underestimating our boys.
20 comments:
I look forward to destroying Izzo's team for the 3rd time in the last two years on Sunday. Maybe then you'll respect us, Tommy boy.
This is troubling. I would expect Izzo to sing the praises of the Big Ten when he makes these kind of appearances. What a dick.
To infer that Izzo doesn't respect Purdue or think the Boilers are a top team is detached from reality. Izzo constantly sings the praises of Keady and Painter.
I'm not sure what other inference could be made from Izzo not mentioning us (and OSU) when asked that question.
Izzo is obviously a big ten guy, and he probably just didn't want to seem like he was trying to lobby for respect for our conference. I am a little surprised by him not mentioning us, but I don't take it personal. But having said that, let's beat the hell out of his team sunday as if he completely dissed us. See yall there!
On another note, has anyone seen our records against the other major conferences? I was happy to see our record against the (way too) Big East...but our record against the incredibly top-heavy big 12 raised an eyebrow. I need to check the actual matchups, though. Go boilermakers!
The inference is that he didn't mention them because he was talking about other teams. The universe doesn't revolve around Purdue basketball.
Here's a quick collection of Izzo quotes about Purdue:
March 9, 2006: "I'd like to start out by saying that Matt Painter did a heck of a job. He is a good young protégé with having Bruce Weber and Gene Keady in his blood."
January 8, 2008 (after MSU won by 3): "Players play, tough players win," Izzo said, repeating one of his favorite sayings. "The toughest team lost by a couple of points tonight, and that wasn't us."
February 17, 2009: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Hummel made a difference. "They're a pretty good team without him, but they're a special team with him," Izzo said. "He's a special guy. I told him after the game I respect him."
February 10, 2010: "They were good. I think they played well. I like Matt's team."
It's still odd that he didn't mention his conference-leading opponent, the one that's next up on his schedule ... and just as odd that Patrick didn't notice this and give him a chance to recover by saying something like "and of course you've got a really tough game coming up Saturday."
Maybe after a couple of years now, Izzo just assumes Purdue is in that list and doesn't think to mention them.
HA! Texas has become the punchline of the so-called "elite" teams this year.
Nostrand,
Of course he's going to mention Purdue right after playing a game against them. Those quotes mean nothing.
Purdue Matt -
The original post said that Izzo was "underestimating our boys." The quotes show that Izzo has quite a bit of respect for Purdue and Painter. He definitely doesn't underestimate Purdue and he doesn't compliment other teams (namely Wisconsin, the other team that has MSU's number at home) too often.
Have you guys ever heard of mind games? I think Izzo is smart enough to do some gamesmenship here and intentionally leave out Purdue.
I wouldn't worry about disrespect here at all. And if Painter wants to use it for bulliten board material, so be it. I don't think disrespect is part of this.
von Nostrand:
"The universe doesn't revolve around Purdue basketball"
Check out the description underneath the name of this site in the masthead:
"A PURDUE-CENTRIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE WORLD..."
You're preaching to the wrong choir here, dude.
By the way, this season, the world DOES revolve around Purdue basketball.
BTFU.
Painter and Co. didn't beat UConn last March. Izzo and Co. did. I doubt that's lost on Izzo. Point being, you have to prove you're great, and you do that with postseason runs, not with regular season wins/shalackings. It also wouldn't surprise me if Izzo thinks Purdue has a legit chance to make a deep, deep run this year and wants to provide a little extra motivation. That's exactly what Bobby Knight did to Izzo/MSU in 2000. For what it's worth, and it's not much, this MSU alum thinks that sans Johnson foul trouble, Purdue has more than enough chops to get to Indy (for the real tourney, not the big ten tourney). Relax and good luck.
dozer8589:
Izzo didn't make these quotes on Boiled Sports Radio, he made them on Sporting News Radio or whatever Dan Patrick is on these days. Consequently, he isn't in the Boiled Sports Universe and his omission wasn't a slight to Purdue.
Izzo certainly isn't going to give Purdue any bulletin board material for this game...and I don't think failing to talk about the upcoming Purdue game is a slight either. If I were playing the #3 team next on my schedule, I'd be quiet about it too...quietly preparing my team to win. But in Izzo's case, hopefully it's a loss and we hang yet ANOTHER championship banner in Mackey Arena. We're going to have to rent space in Assembly Hall down in Bloomington to be able to hang them all at once.
von Nostrand:
"The universe doesn't revolve around Purdue basketball"
Izzo didn't say that, YOU did, right here in Boiled Sports.
Get a hold of yourself.
dozer8589:
You seem to have a problem differentiating between "the universe" and "the Boiled Sports universe." Izzo made the comments in one; Izzo's comments were posted in the other. The difference explains why Izzo didn't feel compelled to discuss Purdue.
von Nostrand:
Why is this so hard for you? I never mentioned anything about what Izzo said. I am talking about what you said.
When posting Izzo's comments here, you made a comment of your own - and it was that comment that I found so funny.
Take your nap, your medicine, or whatever it is you need to think clearly and then maybe we can have a rational discussion.
dozer8589:
I said "The universe does not revolve around Purdue basketball."
You said "Check out the description underneath the name of this site in the masthead:
'A PURDUE-CENTRIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE WORLD...'"
Tom Izzo's apperance on Dan Patrick's show took place in the real universe, not the blog's universe. Since the real universe doesn't revolve around Purdue basketball (which it doesn't), his failure to mention Purdue isn't out of the ordinary. As I said and others said, there are lots of good reasons for this.
If you're commenting about my comment that included Izzo's quotes and the subject of the blog post is Izzo's quotes, then I don't see how you can say you weren't commenting about Izzo's quotes.
Commenters like you - the ones who are so detached from reality that they can't carry on a converstation about a legitimate topic - make me embarrassed to be a Purdue grad. Every time you post something as idiotic as your above comments, the value of my diploma goes down.
von Nostrand:
It's obvious that your degree was not in grammar. Let me explain how it works:
You put Izzo's quotes INSIDE those little squiggly things (we call them "quotation marks"). Those marks isolate Izzo's comments from your own.
I was simply stating that I found it funny that YOU said "the universe does not revolve around Purdue" on a self-proclaimed, "Purdue-centric" site. It is a separate thought, independent of the discussion of Coach Izzo.
I know this site is full of tricky things like basic punctuation and big words like "centric." I am proud of you for trying to keep up.
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