After another grueling practice at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility, seniors Jimmy McGuire, Adam Hourani and Goran Topalo took a breather to recollect on their time at MSU last Tuesday. During the 2001 season, the team suffered numerous setbacks on its way to a 7-18 record, which included a 1-10 mark in Big Ten play. "Our (sophomore) year was probably our hardest," McGuire said.
It doesn't seem that long ago nearly the entire MSU community packed into Cedar Village like sardines that magical April night the Spartans ran the gauntlet to the school's second national championship. Even with the loss of Mateen, Morris and A.J., Spartan fans had visions of - not sugarplums - back-to-back championships dancing in their heads. The following season, the team returned a solid nucleus - seniors Charlie Bell and Andre Hutson and the high-flying sophomore Jason Richardson - plus a pair of talented freshmen, making the team's attack that much more potent. In pursuit of another title, that team went 24-3 in the regular season and won the school's fourth consecutive Big Ten regular-season title. However, the Spartans encountered a slight bump in the road in their Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal tilt with Penn State, falling to the Nittany Lions, 65-63. Although surprising, the setback didn't deter the team on its way to its third consecutive Final Four.
From living in downtown Chicago to being sidelined by a stress fracture earlier this season, Rashi Johnson's road to playing Big Ten basketball has been rough.While playing street ball at the age of 12, he was shot in the leg.
Stacked with talent, this year's Big Ten conference could send up to six women's basketball teams to the NCAA Tournament. Penn State (24-8) nabbed the regular-season conference championship - which all but guarantees them a tournament bid - while Purdue (26-5) earned its bid by taking the Big Ten tournament title.
There is a green tint to the blue-liners on this year's All-CCHA First Team.MSU seniors John-Michael Liles and Brad Fast were voted the two best defensemen in the CCHA by the 12 league coaches, and sophomore center Jim Slater joined them on the all-conference first team, which was released Wednesday night.It's the first time since 1984-85, when former Spartans Gary Haight and Don McSween were honored, that both first-team defensemen have hailed from the same school."Fast and I play very well together and he has helped me bring my game to another level," Liles said in a statement.
The MSU women's hockey club added another impressive mark to its case for becoming a varsity sport, when it captured the American College Hockey Association championship on Saturday. The Spartans edged Wisconsin 2-1 in a hard-fought contest in Muskegon.
Big Ten coaches and media unveiled choices for the top players in the conference Tuesday, tabbing sophomore guard Chris Hill and sophomore forward/guard Alan Anderson for Big Ten honors.Hill was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team while Anderson picked up an honorable mention from the media.
Tim Hearon is ready to close the book on his hockey career - one year earlier than most people expected.The versatile junior forward from Southgate decided last month to skip his senior season, choosing instead to take his finance degree into the real world.
Snell stands ahead Freshman defensive specialist Kristy Snell is MSU's latest Freshman Student-Athlete of the Year.
Kris Koski's senior season has been filled with uncertainty.Sometimes he plays forward in practice, sometimes he plays defense.
The Big Ten Tournament is six years old this season, but MSU head coach Tom Izzo isn't convinced its growing pains are done. As the men's basketball team prepares for this weekend's tournament in Chicago, Izzo said Monday the Big Ten Tournament is, at best, a mixed blessing for players and coaches as they prepare for the NCAA Tournament the following week. Izzo said the revenue and exposure the conference generates for Big Ten programs is a positive, but the "one and done" philosophy surrounding the Big Ten Tournament isn't the best representative of a season of hard work. "All you harp on all season is playing 40 minutes," Izzo said.
Golfers in the midst of 3-day tournament The MSU women's golf team is competing in its third tournament of the spring season at the 31st annual SunTrust Gator Gold Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.
Columbus, Ohio - Tired of riding the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Spartans knew a road win at Ohio State on Saturday would nearly solidify their postseason hopes. So they took care of business. They defeated the Buckeyes 72-58 at Value City Arena and now look ahead to the Big Ten Tournament - and beyond. "I do believe we deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament right now," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said, following the regular season-ending victory.
Columbus, Ohio - Senior forward Adam Ballinger is certainly picking a convenient time to heat up. After drudging through a season laden with shooting slumps and abandoned expectations, he has come alive for MSU the past two contests.
A couple of seniors ran out of gas on the road to seizing Big Ten titles for the MSU wrestling team.Nik Fekete, No.
The Nanooks are coming to town.After sweeping Western Michigan this weekend to close out the regular season, the MSU hockey team earned a first-round CCHA Tournament matchup with ninth-place Alaska-Fairbanks starting Friday at Munn Ice Arena.It's been quite a turnaround for the Spartans (21-13-2 overall, 17-10-1 CCHA), who bottomed out at 10th place in the league in early January.
Forget Enron, WorldCom and Washington, D.C. The real crooks are in college basketball. From NCAA suspensions, violations and infractions to Sunday's Duke-North Carolina late-game fracas, the Division I-A ranks of men's hoops are sporting an ugly black eye of corruption this year.
Indianapolis - Through 27 games this season, the MSU women's basketball team was only familiar with the winning end of blowouts. But Ohio State introduced the Spartans (17-11) to the losing end with a 71-55 thumping Friday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. After MSU head coach Joanne P.
Kalamazoo - The MSU hockey team is 2-for-2 in terms of spoiling opponents' senior nights this season.A week after the Spartans pounded Michigan 4-0 on its senior night, MSU sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio shut out Western Michigan by the same score in the Broncos' last game of the season at Lawson Arena.The Spartans (20-13-2 overall, 16-10-1 CCHA) used three first period goals to dispose of the Broncos (15-18-2, 13-13-1) on Friday.
The MSU hockey team's seven departing players played well on Senior Night, but a pair of sophomores upstaged all of them in the Spartans' regular-season finale. Second-year center Jim Slater, who has been battling a shoulder injury, scored a goal in each period for his first career hat trick Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena.