Michigan State’s Jaden Akins speaks at Media Day

Below is a partial transcript of Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s opening statement from his press conference on Thursday:

Izzo: “I want to make it clear to all veterans that we have some young students here. So try not to corrupt them like you normally would by asking questions that are bad questions. But all in all, what a few.” It’s been many years, but I think we’ve had some – it’s the right time of year – we’ve just been given some incredible opportunities to go to different things, be it a Tigers game, or Spain, or just spending time together to make sure we keep our culture where we want it to be. We have soccer, basketball, women’s soccer and volleyball. So it’s the right time for our team and last weekend The week was unforgettable for all of us, I have to admit, but it was also cool to watch our players… We are preparing for our next friendly match [against] Ferris [State]that’s on the 29th. But the group was good. I don’t think we played particularly well at Northern. But at the same time, the distractions that I caused – we’re sitting there in the crowd with headphones on. We did some things that I think ended up being very good, but not really normal. And we did that a little bit last year against Tennessee, where we took the game to a new level with some interruptions. But the chance to get the Big Ten Network to host a game in Marquette, Michigan was incredible. We sent a lot of power and lights and fixed everything up there, but they did an incredible job and it was really good for our players because there were distractions and you have to live with that. But the other things that this group did, aside from the Tigers, had to be camp, and the guys were very involved in that. But now it’s time to start playing basketball.”

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