Rick Barnes, the Tennessee basketball coach, will always remember his “welcome to the Big Ten” moment when he was an assistant at Ohio State. Barnes met Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who was then an assistant for Jud Heathcote at MSU, in 1986 while they were recruiting a player in Columbus, Ohio. A couple of weeks later, Barnes made a recruiting trip to the Detroit area. He sat with Izzo and Heathcote to watch a 6-foot-5 prospect from Highland Park, Michigan. This prospect reminded Barnes of previous players he recruited, but he had doubts about him.
The prospect showed inconsistency in his shooting, making a couple of 3-pointers but also shooting air balls. Heathcote jokingly told Barnes that if Gary Williams saw what he was seeing, he would fire him like he was thinking about firing Tom. Barnes returned to Ohio State and told Williams about the intriguing prospect, but Williams was not interested in someone who shot air balls. As a result, Ohio State did not sign the prospect, but Michigan State did. That prospect turned out to be Steve Smith, who had a successful 15-year NBA career.
Despite this initial encounter, Barnes and Izzo have developed a strong friendship over the years. They recently reunited when Tennessee played an exhibition game against Michigan State, with the Vols winning 89-99. Barnes was pleasantly surprised by the scoring from his transfer guards.
Barnes not only enjoys his friendship with Izzo, but he also values exhibition games with Power Five teams like Michigan State. These games provide a level of play that is difficult to replicate in practice, especially considering the impending conference realignment across Power Five. With the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, Barnes anticipates the need for up to 20 conference games. The Big Ten will also undergo significant changes with the addition of USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon in 2024. Barnes believes that losing some of the intersectional games will be unfortunate, as these exhibitions have been beneficial to college basketball.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. You can email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, you can consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of her content.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Rick Barnes’ memory of meeting Tom Izzo as Big Ten assistant coaches
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