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Tom Izzo

It's Rick Pitino and Tom Izzo's most wonderful time of the year

Nicole Auerbach
USA TODAY Sports
Coaches like Louisville's Rick Pitino and Michigan State's Tom Izzo make the difference in March

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It's too easy to call Tom Izzo a magician in March. And too simplistic to say Rick Pitino is just a good basketball coach this time of year.

That's not the only way to explain the seemingly unexplainable — that Izzo has this Michigan State team in the Elite Eight, and that Pitino has that Louisville team there, too.

The seventh-seeded Spartans lack the kind of "God-given talent" they've had in years past, Izzo admits, underselling it a bit. Pitino's squad understands its offensive inconsistencies, what it lost when it dismissed Chris Jones and that the world wouldn't have been surprised if the Cardinals had been bounced in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

Neither team is supposed to be here, one win away from the Final Four. When asked where this improbable March run ranks among all of the improbable March runs in his coaching career, Izzo said, "First."

But it's not really magic; that's what everyone gets wrong when they talk about coaches like Izzo, coaches like Pitino.

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For Izzo, the seeds of March success are planted in the summer. They grow in November, during Michigan State's notoriously difficult nonconference schedule. Izzo likes to expose his players to as many different styles of play as possible; nothing they see at any point in the season is then overwhelming.

"These games this weekend are dramatically different than the games we played last weekend (in the rounds of 64 and 32)," Spartan athletic director Mark Hollis told USA TODAY Sports. "But we've played all these in November and December. That's the kind of system we try to do with our scheduling and I think it makes a difference."

Players agreed. They spoke of the rigor of offseason workouts, the challenges of early-season games against ranked teams. They said, essentially, that every month is March — minus the bright lights and highest of stakes.

"(Izzo) loves this game, he loves his players, he loves the stage," freshman forward Marvin Clark said. "All the work we've been putting in during the tournament, we do the same thing during the regular season. At the same time, you know, this is his time of the year."

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Izzo is 12-9 in NCAA tournament games when, like Friday night, he is coaching the lower seeded team. He's more likely to take a team to the Final Four (six appearances) than to coach a team that gets knocked out in the tournament's first weekend (five times).

That's the other piece of this — the success due to actual mid-tournament preparation. Izzo and his coaching staff have seemingly mastered the art of the quick, two-day turnaround. "It's amazing just to sit in that (film) room," Hollis said. "He's unbelievable at prep for the next game."

As Izzo sat, giddy, minutes after beating Oklahoma, 62-58, late Friday night, Izzo kept repeating how thrilled he was — "tickled to death" — that he got to go back to work later that night and all day Saturday to prepare for Louisville.

That kind of preparation breeds confidence in his players, who know that they're going to be as ready mentally for any tournament game as possible.

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo talks to guard Travis Trice (20) during the first half against the Oklahoma Sooners in the semifinals of the east regional of the 2015 NCAA tournament at Carrier Dome.

"He is the best at what he does," freshman Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn, Jr. said. "We're real confident in whatever he tells us to do. As long as we focus on what he tells us to do we'll be fine."

Izzo said he can't remember a team or season that required as many adjustments as this one. Unlike Wisconsin, which adheres to more of a strict system, Izzo said his teams are "kind of a bag of nuts." So, earlier this season, he mixed some things up — defensive assignments, offensive play calls, whatever needed a shakeup.

"We just started believing, about 14 games ago, that we had to change our approach, and our approach (was) we were a soft team," Izzo said. "It's just been enjoyable. This has been the closest knit team I have, and it's been maybe a little less talented one that we've had, and we've had that albatross on our back on the free-throw shooting. We've kind of dealt with it, you know, and we have not hid from it. We've dealt with it.

"So, one more victory would be one of the sweeter moments in my career because I think it would teach you that you can do it a lot of different ways."

***

That's something Pitino has learned this year, too. Though his Cardinals won more games than Izzo's, they had their ups and downs, too — with downs in the form of horrendous shooting nights and Jones' abrupt dismissal in late February (he averaged 13.7 points per game).

Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino during the first half against the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the semifinals of the east regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Carrier Dome.

Though no college basketball observer should ever be surprised to see coaches like Izzo or Pitino in the Elite Eight, no sane observer would have thought these teams, playing they way they were even a month ago, were capable of reaching this stage. But, as guard Terry Rozier put it earlier Friday, Pitino is "dangerous" this time of year because of all the experience he's gained over all these seasons and all these levels of coaching. He's figured out the right pieces to the puzzle, the right buttons to push to get the most out of his team. He even played someone — Anton Gill — who hadn't scored since Feb. 28, yet sparked Louisville past NC State with seven second-half points.

"Rick's a great coach," Izzo said. "He, too, has gone through a year a little bit like ours. Maybe they didn't lose as many games. I think people counted them out, 'What's wrong with them?' They lost a player, and he just rebounded back like any great coach would and a great team would."

Now, Izzo is taking aim at his seventh Final Four. Pitino's trying to get to his eighth. One improbable run will continue — but despite seeding and pre-tournament expectations, there's no pixie dust, no magic wands required.

PHOTOS: THE ELITE 8

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