Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s pre-Duke press conference
Michigan State the head coach Tom Izzo surely has a lot of things he would change about college basketball. His current topic to discuss: Redshirting.
Speaking to reporters before Michigan State’s Champions Classic game against Duke, Izzo challenged the current redshirt rules in college basketball. Absent an injury, the NCAA will not redshirt a player who has played more than 30 regular-season games, something Izzo would like to see change.
“For some strange reason, the NCAA gave football a chance to redshirt on Christmas Eve and basketball gets two exhibition games. I’m not sure I’m for or against a lot of things, but if they get a third of the year we’ve been fighting for on our committee, that should definitely be something,” Izzo said.
As Izzo hinted, in NCAA football, a player can play in up to four games without losing a year of eligibility — and redshirting can be enforced after the season ends once a player did not appear in more than four matches. Conversely, the only potential action redshirt players could get in basketball is in the two preseason exhibition games.
Izzo, reportedly, would be willing to allow players to play a portion of games during the season while still retaining the option to redshirt. If the proportion followed the evolution of football and represented a third of a season, that would be about 10 games for players to play while still saving a year of eligibility.
And if players start getting injured in the rotation, basketball coaches may have no choice but to play someone and burn a redshirt, something Izzo would rather not not be the reality of his profession.
“But who knows how people see things. But that makes it very, very difficult,” Izzo said.
The topic came up as Izzo discussed the potential of a redshirt guard. Gehrig Normand, a decision that seems likely. With rarely much opportunity to see him – or most players – in play before making a decision, Izzo and his staff find themselves in potentially precarious situations in roster management.
“And he was injured in the first exhibition game, if you remember. So the game plan is to try to achieve that. It’s not set in stone yet. This will be something that Gehrig, I, his parents and my team will figure out in the near future,” Izzo said.
