Tom Izzo blew a gasket, which, of course, blew up the Internet. Isn’t that always how it goes today?

Early in the second half of Michigan State’s first-round matchup against Bradley on Thursday, Izzo briskly approached Aaron Henry and began berating the forward after the Braves called a timeout. The cameras captured Izzo, doing his best imitation of a fire-breathing dragon while shouting at Henry.

And then things got carried away. Not by Izzo and not by Henry. Not by anyone else on the floor, actually. The video of the Michigan State head coach blasting one of his stars made its way through social media, and everything was blown out of proportion.

Maybe I should preface this: being berated in front of thousands of people, and on national television, doesn’t sound like much fun. Catching the heat of Izzo’s fury isn’t my idea of a good time.

It’s also not the end of the world.

Over the course of a timeout, social media ran with Izzo’s rage. It highlighted a clenched fist, a red face and shouting to define a coach with 24 years of experience and a pretty solid rapport with his players. In a 30-second window, he transitioned from “Animated Izzo” to Bobby Knight. How ridiculous.

Since the incident, Izzo has been portrayed in a different light. It didn’t take long for the “Twitter tough” crowd to characterize the Spartans head coach as a loose cannon, someone who doesn’t care about his players. Henry, by the way, didn’t seem to take things quite as personally as everyone else who wanted to chime in on the situation.

“I wouldn’t say he’s more demanding,” Henry told Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press. “He knows that I think I can rise to the challenge, because I’ve been doing that all year I feel like. It’s just if my plate gets bigger, I got more food to eat. I just gotta eat it.”

Not convinced that Henry wasn’t overly affected by Izzo’s wrath? How about a few of Michigan State’s former players jumping in to defend him? And there were a lot.

Miles Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr., Gary Harris and Kevin Tolbert all took to Twitter on behalf of Izzo:

You’re probably not going to get that response from former players if you didn’t build strong relationships with them. You’re not going to get that response from them if they don’t trust you, either.

Izzo has been this way for a long time now, I afraid of getting after his players — ranging from an All-American star to the last guy on the bench. Thursday’s incident might’ve appeared as the most confrontational, but it’s hardly the first time he’s challenged someone on his team.

And his players still respect him. More times than not, they respond to it, as well.

Clearly, Izzo has done a few things correctly over his 24-year run in East Lansing. And on Thursday he was forced to defend himself for coaching a player. Maybe it wasn’t the best look, but it certainly wasn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened on a basketball court.

Izzo’s actions might have come across as too aggressive and maybe his style isn’t for everyone, and that’s perfectly understandable. There’s a reason different coaches approach the profession with different styles.

But defining a Hall of Fame coach — or anyone for that matter — for a 30-second tirade in a heat-of-the-moment situation is irresponsible, especially when that guy has built strong relationships with so many players.

You can believe that Izzo’s actions toward Henry were inappropriate, that berating a player in front of a national audience is crossing a line. In the end, all that matters is what the guys on the Michigan State roster think, and how they respond.

From what I can tell, Izzo’s players, current and former, didn’t take his outburst quite as personally as social media.