Tom Izzo’s Kind Of a Big Deal in Japan

On Wednesday, Michigan State had a visitor from Japan. I know—not such a big deal, but this visitor wanted to meet Tom Izzo. (Don't we all?) But this guy, college student Masato Nakamura, parked himself outside Breslin Center for 5 hours, hoping that Coach Izzo would find out, invite him in and then teach him how to coach basketball at the championship level.

Which is JUST what happened. Seriously—that's what happened.

According to MLive.com, Masato has been watching Coach Izzo from the other side of the world and wants to learn more about basketball. So, last year he moved to his aunt's home in Chicago. Last summer, he got the University of Chicago basketball coaches to let him hang out at their practices. But, as he told MLive, "He's so famous in Japan," Nakamura said of Izzo. "I wanted to see him."

Once they brought Masato in to the Breslin Wednesday, he got to talk to Izzo, watched practice and then got invited to sit in on a film session with the coaching staff. When he came back yesterday, he got to watch the pregame shoot-around. And then they took his upper-level ticket from him and gave him a seat right behind the Spartans' bench for the Illinois game

Which just proves "fortune favors the bold." Good for you, Masato. Has anybody shown you "Rick's" yet?

Here's the story.