DENVER — If you were the mystery Michigan State fan who decided to talk a little trash to Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak Thursday night, you might want to avoid running into Krystkowiak near the Utes team hotel this weekend.
Krystkowiak’s Utah team is the No. 3 seed in the same Midwest bracket in which the Spartans were seeded No. 2. His news conference started Friday afternoon in Denver shortly after Michigan State’s stunning upset by 15-seed Middle Tennessee State.
Krystkowiak called the Michigan State loss, “the last thing I would expect,” and used the opportunity to tell a funny story from Thursday night, after his team had returned to its hotel following Utah’s first-round win against Fresno State.
He said a man came up to him and ask if he was the coach of Utah. When Krystkowiak replied in the affirmative, the man launched into his speech.
“He goes, ‘I sure hope you win tomorrow.’ I said, ‘Why is that? How are you tied into it?’” Krystkowiak said. “He said, ‘Because I know if you win tomorrow, you’ll be an easier team for us to beat to go to the Elite 8.’”
Krystkowiak said he responded by asking the man why he was so sure Michigan State would definitely make it to the Sweet 16.
“He said, ‘Well, haven’t you been watching college basketball?’ I just kind of dismissed it,” Krystkowiak said. “I said, ‘Obviously you’ve been drinking, right?”
The man answered that indeed, he was inebriated.
“I’d like to run into him today at the hotel and see how he’s doing,” Krystkowiak said.
But it’s likely Krystkowiak already knows the answer to that.
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