Difference between Pike and Izzo

goru7

All-American
Dec 12, 2005
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Interesting when Izzo was asked about the loss and his players , he said I don’t know why my 3 seniors and juniors played like they did, but I don’t care . I will play my freshman.
Last night , Hyatt ,and Derek played probably the worst games they could possibly play. Gavin looked like a deer in the highlights and Jamichael missed a ton of shots and did not realize he was not in HS and tried to take it to a bigger defender and got swatted . Pike did not throw any of them under the bus like Izzo did because Pike would never do that. He also could have said I cannot believe our players missed about 10 layups , most of them with no one around defending them , but he didn’t and he didn’t name names.

Just pointing out the difference with 2 really good head coaches handling a loss on opening night.
 

RUBubba

All-Conference
Sep 4, 2002
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Actually Pike DID say it, albeit just in a different manner. He said they missed too many easy shots, layups etc. And he simply didn't play Simpson and Hyatt.
 

new jersey1_rivals661559

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Oct 22, 2005
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Interesting when Izzo was asked about the loss and his players , he said I don’t know why my 3 seniors and juniors played like they did, but I don’t care . I will play my freshman.
Last night , Hyatt ,and Derek played probably the worst games they could possibly play. Gavin looked like a deer in the highlights and Jamichael missed a ton of shots and did not realize he was not in HS and tried to take it to a bigger defender and got swatted . Pike did not throw any of them under the bus like Izzo did because Pike would never do that. He also could have said I cannot believe our players missed about 10 layups , most of them with no one around defending them , but he didn’t and he didn’t name names.

Just pointing out the difference with 2 really good head coaches handling a loss on opening night.
Agree with the point you are making that Pike doesn’t criticize his players and often deflects criticism to himself which he did last night in his post game press conference. However, he did make reference to the 17 missed layups without citing specific players at least twice (maybe three times) during the course of his presser.
 
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BillyC80

Heisman
Oct 23, 2006
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I watched the second half of the MSU game and the reason it was even close is because Tyson Walker was sensational with scoring (35) and steals (6), yet Izzo called him out as not having a good game because he was 0-5 from deep (team shot 1-20) and 11-17 (65%) from the FT line (team shot 62%).

I suppose that’s one way to motivate your best player, but if you saw the effort that kid was putting in, trying to will his team to victory, you’d have to say Izzo was just a tad harsh.

Izzo should have considered giving TW more of a breather, having him on the floor for 39 minutes (out of 45, due to OT). I felt TW deserved praise, not criticism in that spot by the head coach.
 

bowlgoal

Heisman
Jul 20, 2004
12,185
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Different styles. I ike Pike, but at the end of the season when MSU is in the final 8 or wherever there are, rememeber the Izzo press conference. He gets results like that and he has always been a hard ***. Kids who play for him, love him. I guess there will always be the kids who don't like to be treated a certain way, and will say they hated him. One thing about Izzo.. He always plays a very difficult schedule and has ups and downs every year. In the end, he's been a Big 10 head coach for a very long time, so his formula works well for him.
 
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goru7

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Dec 12, 2005
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I watched the second half of the MSU game and the reason it was even close is because Tyson Walker was sensational with scoring (35) and steals (6), yet Izzo called him out as not having a good game because he was 0-5 from deep (team shot 1-20) and 11-17 (65%) from the FT line (team shot 62%).

I suppose that’s one way to motivate your best player, but if you saw the effort that kid was putting in, trying to will his team to victory, you’d have to say Izzo was just a tad harsh.

Izzo should have considered giving TW more of a breather, having him on the floor for 39 minutes (out of 45, due to OT). I felt TW deserved praise, not criticism in that spot by the head coach.
He might have referring to Malik Hall , Hoggard and Sissoko
 

RUsojo

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Dec 17, 2010
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Thread reminds me of when people attacked shrewsbury for his postgame and then the next game his team came out like gangbusters and smacked around their opponent on his way to being the most coveted head coaching name in the country.

Had Pike managed Paul like this when he was killing us msybe we make the tournament. Maybe we still don’t. Ifs and buts…the reaction to this stuff is always silly.
 

goru7

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He might have referring to Malik Hall , Hoggard and Sissoko
After looking at Box score Hall had 4 points , Sissoko had 4 points and I forgot Atkins only had 4 points and Hoggard had 9. I am now sure he wasn’t referring to Tyson Walker who was terrific but to those other 4
 

RutgersChow

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And that would be a giant mistake IMO. Izzo is not for everyone, but most kids love him, and he is a hall of fame coach - no comparison there. He's a real discipline guy. That's what 18 year old basketball players need to succeed at the D1 level. His teams play with discipline and rarely look like whatever that was we saw last night.
 

BillyC80

Heisman
Oct 23, 2006
17,080
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After looking at Box score Hall had 4 points , Sissoko had 4 points and I forgot Atkins only had 4 points and Hoggard had 9. I am now sure he wasn’t referring to Tyson Walker who was terrific but to those other 4
Here’s the Izzo postgame presser. His exact quote was: “Tyson struggled. Looks like he scored 35 but he didn’t play well.”

 
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GoodOl'Rutgers

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Sep 11, 2006
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I did not like Palmquist and Griffiths turning down 3-point-shot chances. Especially late. But once Palmquist got a nice feed in corner. and instead of shooting he just pops it right back out to Cliff who throws up a 3. Ridiculous.

Really.. the whole team looked out of sorts. I think Pike needs to make introductions between players.. it was like they did not know each other at all.
 
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goru7

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Here’s the Izzo postgame presser. His exact quote was: “Tyson struggled. Looks like he scored 35 but he didn’t play well.”


He did throw Tyson under the bus along with Hall, Adkins and Sissoko . He said AJ was cramping and only 1 kid played well Jason Koehler the backup center. Not a good look or listen
 

BillyC80

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He did throw Tyson under the bus along with Hall, Adkins and Sissoko . He said AJ was cramping and only 1 kid played well Jason Koehler the backup center. Not a good look or listen
Jaxon Kohler didn’t play. Izzo did mention that “Coen” played well, which is Coen Carr who had 14 points and 6 boards.
 

RutgersChow

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He sounds post game like a basketball coach, and he talks about the positives and negatives equally. He's not there to just reap praise and do PR. After listening to GS and Pike for years, it's refreshing IMO.
 

Greene Rice FIG

Heisman
Dec 30, 2005
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And that would be a giant mistake IMO. Izzo is not for everyone, but most kids love him, and he is a hall of fame coach - no comparison there. He's a real discipline guy. That's what 18 year old basketball players need to succeed at the D1 level. His teams play with discipline and rarely look like whatever that was we saw last night.
They also learn at an early age that authority figures can publicly berate others and violate their personal space and at times push them on national TV.

Izzo is 80% Mike Rice with a longer leash.
 
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BillyC80

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He sounds post game like a basketball coach, and he talks about the positives and negatives equally. He's not there to just reap praise and do PR. After listening to GS and Pike for years, it's refreshing IMO.
I agree with this. My problem with Izzo in this particular presser was that he singled out Walker in a negative way, saying he “struggled” and “did not play well” which was not at all justified imo.
 

Russ Wood

Heisman
Oct 12, 2011
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Interesting when Izzo was asked about the loss and his players , he said I don’t know why my 3 seniors and juniors played like they did, but I don’t care . I will play my freshman.
Last night , Hyatt ,and Derek played probably the worst games they could possibly play. Gavin looked like a deer in the highlights and Jamichael missed a ton of shots and did not realize he was not in HS and tried to take it to a bigger defender and got swatted . Pike did not throw any of them under the bus like Izzo did because Pike would never do that. He also could have said I cannot believe our players missed about 10 layups , most of them with no one around defending them , but he didn’t and he didn’t name names.

Just pointing out the difference with 2 really good head coaches handling a loss on opening night.
A coach saying he doesn't know why his '3 seniors and juniors played like they did, but I don’t care. I will play my freshman,' isn't throwing them under the bus 🙄

Anyone who saw the game saw that those guys didn't play well.

He's just saying if he's older/more experienced guys are gonna play poorly, then he's gonna play his young guys.

Btw, he had a top-10 recruiting class so, presumably, his freshmen are good.
 
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bitnez

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Not a comment on Pike but I love Izzo. It's why his teams generally play so well in March.
 
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