OK, to divert for a minute. USA Today came out with an article today listing how much cash college basketball coaches were making in Division I. You can be the judge, though the ES will chime in. How does Tom Izzo rank among his 64 peers who made last year's NCAA tournament?

Guaranteed annual income: $2.64 million (ranked #3 nationally)
Non-guaranteed annual income: $443,000 (ranked #2)
Annual pay (guaranteed+non-guaranteed): $3.083 million (ranked #4)
One time bonus: $50,000 (Ranked #14)
Tournament max: $375,000 (ranked #6)

Link here to his contract.

Let us compare annual pay of the Big Ten coaches (2009 tourney teams):

Mich State: Tom Izzo. $3.083 m
Ohio State: Thad Motta. $2.662 m
Minnesota: Tubby Smith. $1.861 m
Wisconsin: Bo Ryan. $1.639 m
Michigan: John Beilein. $1.629 m
Illinois: Bruce Weber. $1.522 m
Purdue: Matt Painter. $1.098 m

Not included: Northwestern, Indiana, Penn State, Iowa.

What are the 2009 salaries of this year's final four coaches?

Duke: Mike Krzyzewski. $4.096 m
Mich State: Tom Izzo. $3.083 m
West Va: Bob Huggins. $1.72 m
Butler: Brad Stevens. $396,602

Is Tom Izzo worth it? Are you kidding? Six Final Fours in 12 years? Hell, Sparty is even wearing a basketball shirt. It may be out of whack, but it's worth it. Izzo iz the Biz!