Tom Izzo states winning NCAA Tournament games 'doesn't turn me on' after winning national title

The Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament is here, and while that’s exciting for some coaches, it doesn’t do as much for Tom Izzo. After all, the legendary Michigan State Spartans head coach has won a national championship.

As he, in rather colorful language, explained ahead of the NCAA Tournament, Izzo’s experience in March runs deep. It also takes the excitement from playing in the Sweet Sixteen because he knows how good it feels to cut down the nets once the tournament comes to an end.

“Once you win a national championship, winning a tournament game means nothing,” Tom Izzo said. “It doesn’t turn me on”

While Izzo knows what it’s like to win it all, it’s also been a while since he led the Spartans to a national championship. That championship came back in 2000. That was just the fifth season Izzo was the head coach at Michigan State. Now, 25 years later, he’s looking to add to that trophy case again.

That isn’t to say that Michigan State hasn’t had plenty of other deep NCAA Tournament runs under Izzo. In fact, since he took over in the 1995-96 season, the Spartans have made it to the Final Four eight different times and the Elite Eight 16 times. So, perhaps it isn’t surprising that the Sweet 16 doesn’t excite Izzo the way it might some other coaches.

Despite that, the last time Izzo took Michigan State to a national championship game appearance was in 2009. That season, the Spartans came up just short of winning it all. Instead, it was North Carolina who cut down the nets that season.

Michigan State entered this season’s NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed. In their first two games, the Spartans ran into Bryant and New Mexico. Both teams put up good efforts, but the eight-point win over the Lobos was the closer of the two games. Now, however, the competition takes a steep increase. Ole Miss awaits Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen. A No. 6 seed, Ole Miss is now in just its second Sweet 16 ever. However, it’s the third for their head coach, Chris Beard.

Michigan State and Ole Miss are scheduled to tip off at 7:09 p.m. EST on Friday. The highly anticipated game is scheduled to take place in Atlanta, a location notably closer to Oxford, Mississippi than East Lansing, Michigan.

Tom Izzo reflects on tying Jim Boeheim with 4th-most NCAA Tournament wins

Tom Izzo has had so much NCAA Tournament success for a long enough time that he is now tied with Syracuse legend Jim Boeheim for the fourth most wins in NCAA Tournament history. It’s an accomplishment that he was able to recently reflect upon.

“Jim Boeheim’s a friend too and he’s won a lot of games, man. He’s won a lot more games than I have. Thank God in the tournament I’ve been fortunate. Any time you can accomplish something with your team and your coaches that some of the most respected guys and coaches in college basketball have achieved, that’s a privilege and an honor. I’ve just never seen any banners hung for those kind of things and I’m kind of a banner guy. So until that happens, I’ll enjoy it, but I won’t do cartwheels over it,” Izzo said.

“I’m not proving anything in the NCAA tournament. I’m hoping to continue to win games but I’m smart enough to know, and I think most of you are, because the reason it’s called one and done is because one bad minute and you’re out. The NBA doesn’t have that, the NFL doesn’t have that, major league baseball doesn’t have that, football doesn’t have that. That’s what makes college basketball and the NCAA tournament… I’m not trying to validate anything. I’m not trying to say, ‘Here, I’m not dead yet.’ I’m still relevant. I have a good team.”