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Tom Izzo, Matt Painter named semifinalists for National Coach of the Year
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Two B1G basketball coaches have been named semifinalists for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award.
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Purdue’s Matt Painter were two of the 11 semifinalists listed on Monday. The Spartans and Boilermakers shared the B1G regular season championship, after both finished the year 16-4 in conference play.
The two teams also split the season series with Michigan State winning in East Lansing and Purdue taking the matchup in West Lafayette.
Michigan State finished the season 25-6 while Purdue ended 23-8.
Other semifinalists for the award are: Rick Barnes (Tennessee), Chris Beard (Texas Tech), Nate Oats (Buffalo), Kelvin Sampson (Houston), Mike Young (Wofford), Tony Bennett (Virginia), John Calipari (Kentucky) and Mark Few (Gonzaga).
Four finalists will be announced on March 20. A winner will be named on April 7 in Minneapolis.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB