Head coach Tom Izzo smiles while looking at the crowd of Spartan fans during a pep rally before the game Friday, March. 29, 2013, at The Westin Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Ind. The Spartans will play the Duke Blue Devils in the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament. Adam Toolin/The State News
Indianapolis — Much of the pregame attention before Friday night’s Sweet 16 matchup has been focused on the coaching matchup between two of the NCAA Tournament’s winningest head coaches, but it’s an Izzo that won’t be roaming the sideline that got some extra publicity this week.
Steven Izzo, MSU head coach Tom Izzo’s 13-year-old son, made national headlines this week when his father revealed the younger Izzo selected Duke to beat MSU in the Sweet 16 when filling out his bracket.
At an MSU pep rally hours before the game at the Westin Indianapolis hotel in Tom Izzo re-addressed the controversy, hoping to clear up some misconceptions.
“I’ve got to straighten out my son’s comment. I haven’t slept with my wife in a week because she’s mad at me,” Izzo said, drawing laughs. “(Steven) had us playing Duke (in his bracket) and then it was empty. So I said, ‘Stephen, you didn’t finish your bracket.’ He said ‘I know, Dad. I’m having a tough time.’ So as a good parent, I said ‘you’ve got to learn how to grow up and how to think with your head and not just your heart.”
After the conversation with his father, Steven Izzo proceeded to pick Duke to win, drawing a smile from Blue Devils’ head coach Mike Krzyzewski at the coach’s press conference Thursday, adding that his granddaughter picked Montana to beat Duke for the national championship.
“His son will be sitting on our bench and has a scholarship to Duke,” Krzyzewski said with a grin. “(Tom Izzo) didn’t know that on Facebook and that on Twitter, I’ve been communicating with (Steven) and have arranged that deal. So he sold him out. But he sold him out for a good price. So it’s a good thing.”
But standing in front of an enthusiastic crowd of Spartan fans, Tom Izzo said he never got the chance to share his son’s reasoning for his decision with the media.
“Number one, I do talk about Duke because every day I go to bed and my goal in life is to make sure I get this program above theirs, so that’s one reason,” Tom Izzo said. “The second reason is I talk to him a lot about having seniors and guys that have gone through the program and what that would mean. So, he looked at the rosters and we have one senior and they have four. So he made an educated decision like that with his head, not his heart.
“Now, he hasn’t eaten in a week and he’s getting so much publicity … but, in fairness to him, I probably shouldn’t have (said it). It was a joke, but with social media you never know. I still love my son, and I guarantee you, when we win tonight he’ll be the happiest guy in the building.”
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