EAST LANSING — Tom Izzo took the moments before Michigan State basketball’s first practice to make a few declarations. But not until the Hall of Fame coach delivered a jarring jest – followed by an eye-opening admission.

“(Mark) Dantonio’s in my office. I tried to get him to come in, because I figured since everybody’s resigning that you’d be the first to know I’m resigning today,” Izzo joked Monday, Sept. 22. “How’s that? … Coach Dantonio just told me he’d take over for me.”

No, Izzo continued, he would not be stepping away, like Auburn’s Bruce Pearl did about an hour earlier. Or like Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Jay Wright and so many of his peers have done in recent years. The 70-year-old remains too consumed with winning an elusive second national championship to go with the on

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