Michigan State coach Tom Izzo began recruiting Duke’s Shane Battier when Battier was in the 8th grade. Battier, who grew up in Birmingham, Mich., went on to star at Detroit Country Day School before spurning MSU for Duke.
Battier, a 6-foot-8-inch sophomore, is Duke’s top defensive player and has blossomed into an offensive threat in the last two months.
Izzo said he had no hard feelings toward Battier.
“I was close to his family,” Izzo said. “He went where he wanted to go. That was his dream. I respect that, and I wish him all the luck in the world–except for (Saturday) night.”
Battier was the second big-time Country Day product who got away from Izzo. The other? Chris Webber, whom Izzo courted while he was an assistant to Jud Heathcote at State. Webber wound up at Michigan, which went to the Final Four in 1992 and 1993.
Familiar face: Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is in the Final Four for the eighth time.
Asked what advice he would share with the three newcomers, Krzyzewski said: “I’ve never had an advantage of good looks or intelligence. If I have an advantage with experience, right now I’m not going to address that. Not now. After the Final Four.”
Etc.: Top-ranked Duke has trailed for 5 minutes 54 seconds of 160 minutes in the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament–all of it in the first half of an eventual 85-64 rout of Temple in the East Regional final. . . . A crowd of 27,662 showed up to watch the teams practice Friday.
