Tom Izzo offers emotional two-word response after ex-4-star center entered transfer portal

Zain Bando

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Tom Izzo offers emotional two-word response after ex-4-star center entered transfer portal image

Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has been around college basketball long enough to know when he has a special player in his program.

The latest example of this was former Spartans center Xavier Booker, who opted to transfer to UCLA April 4. But for Izzo, he said he wishes he could have helped Booker stick around East Lansing after showing flashes of prominence, despite averaging 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game this past season.

“Book, um – in Book? Make sure you take this right now. Um, I failed," Izzo told reporters last Thursday in an off-season availability.

Izzo said his failure in Booker was simply not providing him with the resources necessary to compete at the highest level, whether it was impact practice time or putting him in situations to become a primary scoring option during games to offset the likes of then-guard Tre Holloman, among others.

"As a student-athlete, he’s done an unbelievable job," Izzo said. "It, just – I couldn’t get enough out of him. That’s not all his fault. That’s my job. I do get paid for that and I did not get enough out of him."

Izzo credited Booker for staying diligent to the program's values, as he had consistent meetings with Izzo about more than basketball. Although Izzo no longer coaches him, he said Booker has yet to reach his full potential and is excited to watch his career hopefully blossom. 

"I feel bad about Book because I think, deep down, there is a one hell of a basketball player in there and my job is to get that out of them and I didn’t get that done," Izzo added. "So, I have to take responsibility for it, too. If I asked Book to be here morning, noon, and night, Book was here morning, noon, and night. I asked him to improve academically, with his strength, with this, with that. Book did it all. It just didn’t translate into some things and that’s my job.”

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Izzo will have to move on, and maybe based on how the landscape of college basketball changes, the two will cross paths once more.

For now, the off-season carries on as usual.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Tuesday nights and Wednesday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been seen across many mediums, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).