Tom Izzo discusses upcoming Michigan State basketball trip to Spain
With the summer Moneyball schedule now complete for Michigan State basketball, you might be thinking to yourself that you have to wait until November to watch MSU play basketball again.
What if I told you that wasn’t the case?
Beginning Aug. 13, Michigan State is taking a preseason trip to Spain that will last 10 days. On this trip, the Spartans will visit Barcelona, Madrid, and Velencia and play at least three games against professional basketball teams.
This will be the second time that Michigan State has done an overseas trip like this as Tom Izzo took his team to Italy ahead of the 2015-16 basketball season.
After practice on Tuesday, Izzo spoke with the media about this trip and what he’s looking forward to and expecting.
"I don’t know about the competition, as you never know, we went over (in 2015) and played Olympic teams. But now with the Olympics going on, there will be more club and all-star teams. It’s hard to say but I think we’ve made a big point to (play) some good teams."
- Tom Izzo
Not only will the team get to play some good competition which will allow them to grow on the court, but they also will have a chance to grow as a team off the court. And this is what Izzo sounds most excited for.
"It is a bonding opportunity. It is something to practice for the end of the summer. It’ll be a good trip in that respect."
- Tom Izzo
A trip to play against some quality competition while also getting to bond as a team? That sounds like exactly what this team needs to help reset the program after a few down years.
Now let’s hope this trip goes better on the court than in 2015. Back then Michigan State went 1-3 in the four games that they played in Italy. It ultimately ended up not mattering because the team later that year went on to finish second in the Big Ten and earn a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament (we don’t have to talk about how the tournament win).
But regardless, we as fans still have at least three more games to dissect before we have to wait until the regular season in November, so that’s a win in my book regardless of how the games go.