GREEN & WHITE BASKETBALL

Miles Bridges' goal: 'Make memories with my teammates'

Phil Friend
Lansing State Journal

The Miles Brides and Tom Izzo Are Best Friends Tour continued Tuesday, as both were guests on former college coach - and current ESPN personality - Seth Greenberg's podcast, 'Courtside with Seth Greenberg.'

As the rising sophomore has said continuously since announcing he was returning to Michigan State for a second season, Bridges told Greenberg he never seriously considered leaving.

"I love Michigan State. I want to do great things here. I feel like with the team (we have) going into next year, we can," Bridges said. 

"I just wanted to make memories with my teammates that would last a lifetime."

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During Izzo's interview session, the veteran coach stressed that while it's an admirable goal, it's not one that comes easy, referencing the 2016 team's upset loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Middle Tennessee State and the 2014's team defeat in the Elite Eight to Connecticut, in which the Spartans were favorites.

"I can't have (Bridges) stay for something that's one in a thousand," Izzo said.

"I want the world for Miles. We're supposed to teach these kids and mentor them. This is one time maybe the kid mentored the coach. He sold me on all the reasons. ... Now I gotta make sure we make the best of it."

In way-too-early preseason prognostications, Vegas odds have Michigan State as co-favorites (along with Kentucky) to win the 2018 national championship. This past weekend, NBC Sports' Rob Dauster listed the Spartans No. 1 in his preseason top 25.

Izzo also extrapolated on the conception of the 'Party at Sparty' where Bridges announced he was staying. It was, as columnist Graham Couch touched on, the idea of former MSU star Draymond Green, who was mobbed by fans at the Sparty statue when he brought the NBA championship trophy to campus during a football Saturday in 2015.

"It was kind of unlike Miles because he's a shy kid in some ways," Izzo said. "His family enjoyed it, the people enjoyed it, I sure as hell enjoyed it."

OTHER COMMENTS OF NOTE

GET CARTER: Izzo said that Ben Carter, who was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA on Monday after suffering a knee injury that kept him out all of last season, will be ready by September.

"I was gonna keep him here even if he didn't get his sixth year," Izzo said. "He brings a high basketball IQ. I don't know how healthy he'll be, but he'll have plenty of time."

IS MSU ELITE?: Izzo says not yet, but that can be the case if rising sophomores Nick Ward and Cassius Winston improve defensively next year.

"I think we (can) go from a great team to maybe an elite team. And that's what the summer's for," Izzo said.

CALIPARI ADVICE: Kentucky coach John Calipari has turned coaching a starting lineup made up of mostly freshmen into an art form. So when Izzo dipped into that bag for the first time in his MSU career this past season, he sought out the former UMass coach for advice.

"I called Calipari a few times just to get insight on how to do it," Izzo said. "We've been more like the Notre Dames or Villanovas, you bring in a freshman like Deyonta Davis and you got four guys around him. ... It was different. Some of it was exciting and fun and some of it was frustrating because you felt like you were still having the kind of practices in February you were having in October."