GREENVILLE, South Carolina. For decades now, Tom Izzo has seen the man he considers one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time lined up opposite him. Duke vs. Michigan State was the highlight when it occurs in the regular season and a mandatory game during the NCAA Tournament.
And after the No. 7 Spartans narrowly edged out No. 10 Davidson 74-73 on Friday night, Izzo was finally able to share what has been going on all along: He will have another chance to beat Mike Krzyszewski and Duke.
Sunday’s second-round game will be the sixth NCAA Tournament meeting between Izzo and Krzyzewski, which Izzo called “a great day for college basketball.”
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It would also be the most frequent head coach matchup in tournament history, passing five matches between Roy Williams and Bill Self and Eddie Sutton and Denny Krum.
“I didn’t want to look ahead and dream of a match because you have the chance to play again against possibly the all-time great as they say about LeBron. [James] or talking about Michael [Jordan], – said Izzo after the victory of the Spartans. – In the coaching world, GOAT is the team we will play with, and deservedly so. It’s not given. It’s been earned.
“And you know, I’ll try my best to see if we can get some more, one more, on the positive side of this case, but every time we’ve played it’s been a game I’ve been looking forward to. “
Izzo and Krzyzewski have often met over the years, both in the NCAA Tournament and in the regular season. Izzo is 3-12 against Krzyzewski in his career and 2-3 in the NCAA Tournament. However, they last met in 2019 in the Elite Eight, when Michigan State beat Duke 68–67 to advance to the Final Four.
The two coaches together have amassed 151 NCAA Tournament wins, with Krzyzewski having 98 all-time wins and Izzo 53, fifth. They are tied for the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with 24; Krzyzewski’s streak ended last year. They are among the top three coaches in tournament history in terms of win percentage, with Krzyzewski in first place at .765 and Izzo third at .706.
But for Izzo, Duke has been a model of consistency over Krzyzewski’s 42 years as coach. He calls it “the class of the class”.
“I think Mike has done more for our profession than just Duke basketball. It’s about basketball,” Izzo said. “This is about the profession that I chose, and he was a model. He was a model of perseverance. When I got the job and won the national championship in five years and people were willing to canonize you for at least a year or two, I said come back in 10 years and then 15, and for him that was 42 years of consistency.
“And that, to me, is the highest respect you give a man if he can keep knocking on the door year after year, year after year.”