EAST LANSING -- Masato Nakamura showed up in East Lansing this week with no connection to Michigan State besides an email sent to the basketball program’s coaching staff that went unreturned.

But the native of Japan wanted to learn about basketball from one of the game's famous coaches, Tom Izzo, who he grew to admire from the other side of the world.

"He's so famous in Japan," Nakamura said of Izzo. "I wanted to see him."

His plan to learn basketball from Izzo, on its face, seemed unlikely to work: stand outside the Breslin Center and hope that the Hall of Fame coach who works there would invite him in and teach him about basketball as he prepared for a Big Ten game against Illinois.

Little did Nakamura know that he picked the right coach to try his plan on.

After Nakamura's vigil stretched on for five hours outside the Breslin Center on Wednesday, a Michigan State staff member alerted Izzo to the presence of the young Japanese man who spoke limited English but wanted to come inside and learn about basketball.

"Bring him in," Izzo responded immediately.

Nakamura was invited in to watch the Spartans practice. Afterward, he posed some of his basketball questions to Izzo himself and found a willing audience. Then he was invited to a subsequent film session with members of the coaching staff.

The next day, he was back for more film, this time with Michigan State's entire basketball staff. Then he was at the team's pregame shootaround as it made final preparations for that night's game.

Nakamura had bought an upper-level ticket for the game. The team swapped it for a seat behind the Spartans bench, where he took in Michigan State’s 76-56 win over the Illini with a prime seat to watch the coaches operate.

Nakamura, who is a college student from Okinawa, moved to Chicago last year to live with his aunt and learn about the game of basketball in the hope of one day becoming a coach. As he did with Michigan State, he reached out to the coaching staff at University of Chicago this past summer to ask if he could observe and learn the game.

Coach Mike McGrath replied offered to let him attend a practice. Soon, Nakamura became a daily presence, attending practices, game and meetings and helping with film work.

Nakamura is still learning English, but McGrath said he picked up on the language of basketball quickly.

"When we start talking about talking about whether or not to cut to the baseline or wing, or fight through a screen or go under a screen, he understands completely," McGrath said.

McGrath said his presence around the program has been an enjoyable one. Players like learning about a new culture, and players and coaches alike appreciated how Nakamura quickly grew to live and die by the fortunes of University of Chicago despite having no previous connection to the school.

“To have somebody come in and care so much about a team and their success, they enjoy it,” McGrath said.

This week, unbeknownst to most at Chicago, Nakamura took his quest to learn basketball to a much larger stage.

So what did he learn in his two days around Izzo? It had little to do with strategy.

“He’s strict but the players trust him,” Nakamura said. “Relationship is so important.”