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Tom Izzo embraces 'miniature rivalry' with Oakland, friendship with Greg Kampe

(Photo: Carlos Osorio, Associated Press)

Royal Oak — Tom Izzo can't say no to Greg Kampe, even if perhaps he should.

"Stupidity," Izzo said with a hearty laugh, when asked about extending the Michigan State-Oakland basketball series. "We've played a lot of times and we've won them all, by one, by three, in overtime. When he had good teams, it was really a fight. When he had bad teams, it was a five-point game.

"That's what I said to him. I said, 'What, am I stupid or what?' Sooner or later ..."

Michigan State and Oakland agreed in mid-July to extend the rivalry for at least six more years, alternating between Little Caesars Arena in Detroit and Breslin Center in East Lansing.