The post Michigan State basketball’s Tom Izzo calls for ‘guardrails’ in transfer portal appeared first on ClutchPoints.
Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo is no stranger to NIL and the transfer portal, but that doesn’t mean he is a fan. Izzo is advocating for more regulations and rules regarding college basketball transfer rules.
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“We’ve lost a lot of control now. Don’t kid yourself. I think a lot of people are afraid to say it because they’re in the middle of their careers, but I’m not,” Izzo said, per On3. “But I’m not afraid to say it because I don’t think it’s benefiting the kids in the long [run]. We’ve got more guys at four different schools than two different schools right now. How can that benefit anybody? So, I think the portal — they should get paid some money. There’s got to be guardrails about it. I mean, how can players in college that aren’t even pros be making as much money or more money? So, there’s got to be guardrails. It’s gotten a little crazy.”
Izzo has coached at Michigan State for more than 30 years. He has won a national championship, as well as several Big Ten Conference titles. The veteran coach says the portal though has forced him to adapt.
“Yeah, it really has,” Izzo added. “I think we’re used to having either guys leaving early or leaving when they graduate. Leaving early because they went pro. Very few guys transferred. It’s just a different era. I’ve adjusted, but I don’t want to change what I had either. Culture, relationships are still very important to me. The day they’re not, you won’t be interviewing me.”
Last season, Michigan State basketball went to the NCAA tournament under Izzo. The Spartans lost in the Elite Eight to Auburn.
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Michigan State’s Tom Izzo would love other changes in college basketball
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Izzo is also calling for an expansion of the NCAA tournament. There is a lot of discussion about possibly allowing more at-large teams to enter the event, from smaller conferences. Izzo likes the idea.
“There’s a lot more Division I teams, No. 1,” Izzo said in a YouTube interview with Rick Pizzo on the Big Ten men’s basketball channel. “And there’s a lot more people that put money into basketball, No. 2. And we see that football went from four to 12, now they’re talking 16 or 18.”
The Michigan State coach says more research should be done on how many additional teams can go in March Madness, without hurting the quality of the event.
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“I think you can water down a tournament,” Izzo added. “I don’t think we should be going to 100. I don’t know what the right number would be, but if you look at it, how many better teams are there today than there were 20 years ago? There’s a lot better teams and there’s a lot more of them. There’s what, 363 or something? So I think that should play some of the part in it.”
Michigan State starts their season in the fall.
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