Tom Izzo Ncaa Quotations

If we don't get better in the Big Ten tournament it's going to be hard to get better in the NCAA Tournament.

I think for the most part, winning is always more of an advantage. If you play (in the NCAA Tournament) on Thursday or Friday, and you don't have to travel through too many time zones, I don't think there's any plus in us losing. I didn't feel any better about it (last year). I can guarantee you that.

I think it was the biggest disappointment of all the NCAA games we played in. We didn't have the season we wanted to have. We didn't perform to what I think our capabilities were. I think this is one of the few times in my career here as a head coach that we didn't get done what I think we were capable of getting done, culminating with the lack of a very good performance on that last night.

We have a long way to go but we are still in the race. I'm not giving up on the Big Ten, but we just aren't in control so we just have to let it play out and focus on getting better every day until the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament. We have lots of big games we need to focus on, but it feels good to be home.

We didn't play well, they played well. They deserve the credit that they get. That's an NCAA (Tournament) team, I don't think there's any question about that.

This is still a very good Indiana team. They can do well in the Big Ten tournament and be a NCAA tourney team.

I'm not a record guy. I don't need to win 700 games, I don't need to have 20 straight 20-win seasons ... and I don't need to get in the NCAA tournament every year if we're not worthy of being in it. If we're not playing good enough or we can't win a game, it just doesn't turn me on.

I'm not a big believer that the NCAA goes totally on strength of schedule and things like that, so I think you still have to have wins.

I kind of respect and understand his theory, because it's a lot like mine. He looks at it like the only way he's getting to the NCAA tournament is to win his league, so if he can go out and play some of the best teams and sell that in recruiting and it makes the university some money.

The NCAA wants you to make sure nobody's fighting, and then they don't want you breaking it up. My assistant doesn't deserve any of the blame for that; I do. I didn't appreciate the double-technical because I didn't think that was deserved.

It will never even out because you never know which years certain teams are good, and that's nobody's fault, not the Big Ten, not the coaches, not anyone. But when coaches are hired and fired on it, and when eventually you're going to be seeded in the NCAA Tournament, a real huge plus or a rule huge minus can affect a lot of teams.