Road To Final Four Is Loaded With Spartans, Izzone Faithful
INDIANAPOLIS (CBSDETROIT) - You can start counting the hours away from the tip-off between Michigan State and Duke ... the first half of this year's Final Four, set to meet in Indianapolis on Saturday night.
"This has been a fun, fun ride," Willie Marinez told WWJ's Jon Hewett, just north of Indianapolis. "This is the seventh Final Four that Tom (Izzo) has worked his way into and we've been fortunate, as the Marinez family, to get to go to every one of them."
How does a Spartan fan garner seven trips to the NCAA Tournament? Marinez is the brother of Lupe (Marinez) Izzo, Tom's wife.
"I always had it in my heart that we were going to get there," said Jackson Marinez (Tom Izzo's godson).
When the Spartans made the Final Four we knew we had to go, says Spartan fan Drew Mann. "Three months ago I said we are making the Elite Eight ... I'm just going to put that out there."
As a member of the student cheering section 'the izzone' Samantha Straus says the decision was made when the Spartans beat Louisville.
"We went to go buy 'student section' tickets but those sold out in three minutes -- so, we ended up with nose-bleeds and we are in. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity."
Izzo led the Spartans a national championship in 2000.
Michigan State will tip-off against top seeded Duke Saturday at 6:00 p.m.
