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tOSU vs. Michigan State, Sun 3/9 @ 4:30pm ET, CBS

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TampaBuckeyes said:
IZzo pulls a Sanan. When he loses it's not because the other team is good. Fuck IZzo.

"If any of you guys from Ohio think this is the old smash mouth Michigan State team, you're kidding yourself," Izzo said. "We're not that team, we haven't been that team for a while. ... We're a little wimpier than we used to be."

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2014/03/michigan_state_coach_tom_izzo.html
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bkochmc said:
I thought he gave Ohio State plenty of credit, in particular Craft (see the posts in Craft's thread). And he is right... besides Payne this is the softest MSU team I've watched in quite some time. When Payne is on the floor the other four watch him try to do the dirty work inside all by himself. When he's on the bench it's a free for all for the opponents' big men.
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that's because he did...and he didn't say anything we all weren't saying in various games this year - the officiating in the Big Ten is horrible and only getting worse.
 
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bkochmc said:
I thought he gave Ohio State plenty of credit, in particular Craft (see the posts in Craft's thread). And he is right... besides Payne this is the softest MSU team I've watched in quite some time. When Payne is on the floor the other four watch him try to do the dirty work inside all by himself. When he's on the bench it's a free for all for the opponents' big men.
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This may be a soft MSU team, but what kills me is that when he lost and didn't want to give our guys the credit or let the fan base enjoy the win, he instead chose to put his team down, calling them soft. They are only 18, 19, 20 year old guys, working their asses off for him. I don't care if they are soft, don't say that in a press conference. That's what the locker room is for. Instead of saying the typical, 'two great teams played out there today' he instead went the Saban route of publicly douching on his players. As we can see that went really far in motivating them for the Sugar Bowl.

This may be one of the worst OSU teams I've seen in a while (still 20 wins), but I'd be pissed hearing comments like that from Thad. At the same time I'd expect him to call them out in private. There is a time and a place and the coaches are paid enough to know that.
 
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TampaBuckeyes said:
This may be a soft MSU team, but what kills me is that when he lost and didn't want to give our guys the credit or let the fan base enjoy the win, he instead chose to put his team down, calling them soft. They are only 18, 19, 20 year old guys, working their asses off for him. I don't care if they are soft, don't say that in a press conference. That's what the locker room is for. Instead of saying the typical, 'two great teams played out there today' he instead went the Saban route of publicly douching on his players. As we can see that went really far in motivating them for the Sugar Bowl.

This may be one of the worst OSU teams I've seen in a while (still 20 wins), but I'd be pissed hearing comments like that from Thad. At the same time I'd expect him to call them out in private. There is a time and a place and the coaches are paid enough to know that.
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If you need the opposing coach to lavish praise over your team to enjoy a win you aren't going to enjoy very many of them, especially from top programs. Coaches are going to spend most of their time and energy discussing and dissecting their team, not the opposing one.

All good coaches know how to get under their team's skin (to motivate them, not to demean them) when things aren't going their way. Izzo knew exactly what he was doing when he called his team "wimpier than they used to be"... how many competitive D-1 scholarship players are going to hear that from their coach and not get pissed off about it and would want to do something to change that perception? Besides, it's not like he called his players a bunch of no-talent hacks who shouldn't even be playing community college ball. If I were a betting man I'd be willing to bet MSU comes out playing harder in the BTT than they have all year.

Also, Izzo has never been one to do the Tressel-speak... too many Buckeye fans are used to that and get overly defensive when opposing coaches don't do the same thing. Matta does it too, albeit in a little more polite way. And you should know by now that Urban is more direct in his press conferences. All three call a spade a spade in their dealings with the press, all in different ways and I don't think any are demeaning at all to the players.
 
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TampaBuckeyes said:
This may be a soft MSU team, but what kills me is that when he lost and didn't want to give our guys the credit or let the fan base enjoy the win, he instead chose to put his team down, calling them soft. They are only 18, 19, 20 year old guys, working their asses off for him. I don't care if they are soft, don't say that in a press conference. That's what the locker room is for. Instead of saying the typical, 'two great teams played out there today' he instead went the Saban route of publicly douching on his players. As we can see that went really far in motivating them for the Sugar Bowl.

This may be one of the worst OSU teams I've seen in a while (still 20 wins), but I'd be pissed hearing comments like that from Thad. At the same time I'd expect him to call them out in private. There is a time and a place and the coaches are paid enough to know that.
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With a coach as good and respected as Izzo is, you better believe he's told them time and again to toughen up in private. And comparing him to Saban is laughable.
 
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bkochmc said:
If you need the opposing coach to lavish praise over your team to enjoy a win you aren't going to enjoy very many of them, especially from top programs. Coaches are going to spend most of their time and energy discussing and dissecting their team, not the opposing one.

All good coaches know how to get under their team's skin (to motivate them, not to demean them) when things aren't going their way. Izzo knew exactly what he was doing when he called his team "wimpier than they used to be"... how many competitive D-1 scholarship players are going to hear that from their coach and not get pissed off about it and would want to do something to change that perception? Besides, it's not like he called his players a bunch of no-talent hacks who shouldn't even be playing community college ball. If I were a betting man I'd be willing to bet MSU comes out playing harder in the BTT than they have all year.

Also, Izzo has never been one to do the Tressel-speak... too many Buckeye fans are used to that and get overly defensive when opposing coaches don't do the same thing. Matta does it too, albeit in a little more polite way. And you should know by now that Urban is more direct in his press conferences. All three call a spade a spade in their dealings with the press, all in different ways and I don't think any are demeaning at all to the players.
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Agreed. Pretty much the last thing I'm concerned about is whether Izzo gave enough credit to OSU in the post-game press conference.
 
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I have really enjoyed the OSU-MSU basketball rivalry since Matta stepped on the scene. Two great coaches and two great programs competing at a high-level even when they aren't having a great season. The teams seem to compete in these games with respect that I haven't seen from the OSU-tsun football rivalry in quite some time.

Some stats on the series since Matta has started coaching at Ohio State...

Records
Overall: OSU leads 11-10
Games played at Ohio State: OSU leads 5-3
Games played at Michigan State: MSU leads 5-4
Big Ten Tournament: Tied 2-2 (Both of MSU's wins were in the championship game. OSU's wins were in the semis and the quarters.)

Margin of Victory
Overall Average: 6.9
OSU Wins Average: 6.8
MSU Wins Average: 7.1
6 of the 21 games were decided by double digits.
6 games were decided by one possession.
 
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The fact that tOSU is keeping it close (one possession wins/losses) to me shows how far Thad has brought the Buckeyes. Izzo has a dynasty up there, and he's on a plateau with coach K, and several others. Now all Thad has to do is keep the Ohio kids at tOSU and not matriculate North to Lansing. Don't really remember Payne's recruiting by the Bucks, so maybe he committed to MSU while in Jr HS. Dunno, don't see anyone really mentioned that isn't at least on tOSU's radar. Heck, I think Thad should be up for coach of the year - he's worked his fanny off harder this year than others when he had more talent. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Go Bucks. Actually wouldn't mind seeing them lose in the B10 quarters, so they get a bit of rest.
 
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bkochmc said:
I have really enjoyed the OSU-MSU basketball rivalry since Matta stepped on the scene. Two great coaches and two great programs competing at a high-level even when they aren't having a great season. The teams seem to compete in these games with respect that I haven't seen from the OSU-tsun football rivalry in quite some time.

Some stats on the series since Matta has started coaching at Ohio State...

Records
Overall: OSU leads 11-10
Games played at Ohio State: OSU leads 5-3
Games played at Michigan State: MSU leads 5-4
Big Ten Tournament: Tied 2-2 (Both of MSU's wins were in the championship game. OSU's wins were in the semis and the quarters.)

Margin of Victory
Overall Average: 6.9
OSU Wins Average: 6.8
MSU Wins Average: 7.1
6 of the 21 games were decided by double digits.
6 games were decided by one possession.
Click to expand...

Good post. I think the media has kind of dropped the ball and ignored how good this series has been. They have not hyped up the series at all but it deserves more attention than the "oh, another great game in the Big Ten" sentiment that goes along with this game.

You never know exactly what to expect in this series, which team will win any given game, and the games are almost always pretty close throughout and hard-fought with the talent on each team being pretty comparable. This has been the most prominent rivalry in the Big Ten over the Matta era. The two best basketball programs in the B1G over this time frame, and arguably the two best coaches in the league as well (certainly they have been the best in terms of leading their teams to the F4).
 
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