COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jaxon Kohler’s looked around him as he strutted onto the Nationwide Arena court for an open practice, his first NCAA tournament experience coming into view.
The freshman big man already had his eyes opened this week as to what March Madness means inside Michigan State basketball’s program.
“When it comes to focus and alertness and just kind of seriousness, it dials in 100 notches,” Kohler said in the locker room Thursday, before the Spartans’ open practice. “It really puts focus on you gotta turn everything up to 11.”
After the Spartans closed the regular season with a home win over Ohio State, MSU coach Tom Izzo implored his players to give him three days that would last the next three weeks.