EAST LANSING -- Last month, Greg Gard became Wisconsin's head coach after a long career as an assistant, spent entirely in his home state and largely under a legendary boss at a Big Ten program.
Naturally, Tom Izzo took to him immediately.
Gard and Izzo will face off on Sunday for the first time as head coaches, when Michigan State visits Wisconsin (1:30 p.m., CBS).
There, the sidelines will feature two coaches who have similar backstories. Izzo spent 12 years as an assistant to Jud Heathcote at Michigan State, until Heathcote retired and tapped Izzo as his successor in 1995.