Dusty May on Tom Izzo, Michigan State rivalry: ‘Do I like them? Hell no. Do I respect them? Absolutely.’

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Michigan Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament title at the end of last season, but fell out of the regular-season title race late in the year. Michigan State took that crown with two late-season wins over U-M, followed by a controversial Senior Day at Breslin Center.

One of the most heated rivalries in the Big Ten figures to be just that again this season, with two matchups on the schedule, this time with Michigan hosting the regular-season finale in Ann Arbor.

May was asked to address the rivalry and his relationship – or lack thereof – with MSU’s Tom Izzo. Instead of taking the low-hanging fruit, the Michigan head coach went with the high road.

“ It was much better before I came into the league,” May laughed at the podium at Big Ten Basketball Media Day. “There’s a lot to be made of our rivalry. He put on a masterclass last year. The job that he and his staff did was one of the better coaching jobs that I’ve seen. And, once again, I thought they had really, really good players. And those guys, you could tell it, they came together and did something special. So I’ll leave it that, but you can’t have anything but respect for their program.

“Do I like them? Hell no. But do I respect them? Absolutely.”

Plenty of coaches have come through the conference since Izzo’s first season in 1995-96, manning the Michigan State bench. May says coaches like him are good for the conference, but are not exactly lining up to put their arms around their conference peers.

“It’s different because the guys that have been at one place for a long time… It’s almost like they’ve been in a different sport than those of us that have had to bounce around and see different things,” May said. “So they’ve been great ambassadors for our game and great mentors to our coaches.

“But you don’t get a lot of advice from guys that are trying to beat your ass, and so we’ll leave it at that.

Both the Wolverines and Spartans have their work cut out for them. The 18-team conference has four new coaches and plenty of teams will be gunning for the top spot in both the regular season and conference tournament.

 ”There’s no hidden agendas in our locker room,” May said. “Everyone wants the same thing, and that’s to chase championships. We know we’re a long way from that. The beautiful thing about being in this league, there are 18 teams, so I feel like it’s impossible to try to knock us off or knock Michigan State off. It’s going to be warfare every single night in the Big Ten. So we’re not really thinking about all those other teams as opposed to maybe what we’ll see from them.

“But I know that I’ve caught myself several times. The media has asked, ‘Who do you anticipate being this, or who do you anticipate being that?’ And I’ll rattle off four or five, six teams I think could win [the league]. And then as soon as I stopped talking, I remember three or four other teams that when I look at their roster where I think, man, they have a real shot if they can stay healthy and they can find a way to come together.

“The field is wide open. We’re going to chase it just like everyone else.”