Earlier in the week, the Big Ten made it official that the 2020 college football season was being postponed due to concerns regarding COVID-19 and Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo is “devastated.”
“I’ve never missed an opening day Saturday. I mean, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Michigan State’s basketball coach said Wednesday night. “I’m not going to the cider mill. I’m not going to my cottage. I get up at 8, work out, watch College GameDay from 9 to noon, go the football game, come back and watch the other games until 1 o’clock in the morning, go to bed and say, ‘I had one helluva day.’
“So for me, personally, the fan in me is devastated.”
With college football postponed, at least for the Big Ten, the focus for many now shifts to college basketball and whether or not it will have a 2020-21 season.
Izzo believes there absolutely will be a college basketball season this fall/winter.
“I think we’re 100% going to play,” Izzo said.
“I think there’s going to be a vaccine or we’re going to get this (under control) and, with (in-person classes) ending in November (this year), I think we’ve got a built-in bubble (to start playing).”
The long-time Spartans coach knows that for college athletics to happen, everybody, including the fans, is going to have to do their part and mask-up.
“I’ll tell you this, we went six weeks (this summer), we had no positive (tests on the men’s basketball team),” Izzo said. “I mean, we badgered them. It was stressful on us, because every weekend, every night we’re talking to our kids. But I think they started to become educated and understanding things like wear your mask. Did we dodge some bullets? Probably. Did everybody just stay in? I’m sure not. But what happened to sacrificing? What happened to accountability?
“We act like it’s a big deal to wear a mask. I mean, come on. I mean, come on, man.”
“Everybody’s going to have to wake up a little bit and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to make some sacrifices. I think you got to give up a little bit to get a little bit. And (in basketball) we’re going to get more time to do that.”
Izzo doubled down on his comments on Friday when he joined The Morning Show with Stoney on 97.1 The Ticket.
“I think there’s a lot of things that are going to happen. Ours is a little easier to manage. One, I don’t know why, I just think they’ll be a vaccine. I think the testing, you hear about the saliva test that the NBA and I think the NFL is using isn’t quite FDA approved but it’s getting close. I think there’s a lot of things that could change in the weeks to come and hopefully that’ll advance us and we get a chance to learn.”
“If I had a son, which I do, and he’s actually playing a little bit for me, I can’t think of any safer place than where he spent the last six, seven weeks. We tested every week, we quarantined, we educated and supported.”
Click the play button below to listen to the audio.
–Quotes via Graham Couch, Lansing State Journal– LINK
–Quotes via WXYT-FM/97.1 The Ticket — LINK
