Maybe it was just coach-speak when Michigan State's Tom Izzo insisted that he does not want to get too excited about his 11th-ranked Spartans while heading into a showdown with No. 16 North Carolina on Thursday.

The titanic clash serves the championship game of the Beach Division at the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Fort Myers, Fla.

Michigan State is off to a 6-0 start with two NCAA tournament-boosting wins over Arkansas and Kentucky, but Izzo said he and other teams still are at a feeling-out stage early in the season.

"I'm just not sure where everybody is, and I'm not even sure where we are yet," Izzo said. "I figure it's going to take 10 to 12 games to figure out whether some of these wins are big wins, or if those teams aren't quite good enough. Or maybe those teams get better.

"There is g

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