BUFFALO, N.Y. – Count Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey among the long list of coaches – young and old – who have great things to say about Tom Izzo, with first-hand experience of being helped along the way in some fashion by Michigan State’s 31-year boss.
Kelsey and Izzo might have snipped indirectly at one another back in October regarding the expanding nature of NCAA eligibility and transfers. But it was all peace, love and happy mentorship during Friday’s press conferences at KeyBank Center ahead of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament Second Round matchup in the East Regional at 2:45 p.m. (CBS).
And Kelsey provided a portrayal of Izzo as a state-of-the-art, cutting-edge trailblazer of technology when the two crossed paths in the early 2000s – not necessarily the old school curmudgeon that Izzo sees himself as.
“He would never remember this,” Kelsey said. “I was a first-year, maybe second-year director of basketball operations at Wake Forest back in 2003 or so.”
It was probably 2005 or 2006. Kelsey worked as an assistant for Skip Prosser at Wake Forest at the time. Izzo was coming off his fourth Final Four appearance.
“We had a very antiquated video editing system back then (at Wake Forest),” Kelsey said
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