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Sports

BASKETBALL

Football experiment helping Spartans cope

Dan Woike
January 29, 2002

One common factor exists among the Spartan men’s basketball and football teams, but that factor may soon multiply.Since freshman quarterback Aaron Alexander joined the team Thursday, basketball head coach Tom Izzo has liked what he’s seen.In fact, Izzo’s been impressed enough with Alexander to continue talks with football head coach Bobby Williams about the possibilities of adding other bodies to his depleted roster.“There’s one or two other guys we’ve looked at, and maybe feel like we could use,” Izzo said.

ICE HOCKEY

Mason leaves program in good shape

MSU’s two oldest players - junior left wing Brian Maloney and sophomore center Tim Hearon - were infants when Ron Mason took over the reins of the Spartan hockey chariot. The rest of the 27-man roster hadn’t even been born yet. While the current players were growing up, losing their teeth, playing floor hockey in gym class and passing notes to childhood crushes, Mason was building the framework for a college hockey dynamo. Under his watchful eye and signature mustache (which has whitened a bit through the years), the Spartan program flourished into one of the elite programs in the country. He arrived from Bowling Green in 1979 and suffered through a pair of losing seasons right off the bat.

SPORTS

Task begins to replace legend

James Jahnke
January 28, 2002

Somebody’s going to have some big shoes to fill. As Ron Mason seems poised to leave the Spartan bench for the athletics director’s office, a giant-sized void in the hockey program will be left behind. Mason, college hockey’s all-time winningest coach with 916 wins, has been synonymous with MSU hockey for the last two decades.

SPORTS

Defensive surge downs Wildcats

Dan Woike
January 28, 2002

Behind swarming defense and greedy fingers, the Spartan women’s basketball team downed Northwestern 75-58 on Sunday at Breslin Center.Junior forward Syreeta Bromfield’s monster second half broke the game open for the Spartans (13-7 overall, 3-6 Big Ten) and accounted for 15 of her game-high 22 points.Freshman guard Kristin Haynie added 12 points, and freshman forward Joy Johnson chipped in 11.The Spartan defense gave Northwestern (4-16, 0-9) fits all afternoon, forcing the Wildcats into 25 turnovers.

SPORTS

Change to small, quick lineup works for Spartans

Chris Mackinder
January 28, 2002

They may have been smaller, but the players in the Spartans’ new lineup did their job.The women’s basketball team has utilized various lineups all season, but Sunday night’s was arguably its most effective.The Spartans (13-7 overall, 3-6 Big Ten) defeated Northwestern (4-16, 0-9) 75-58.Wildcats head coach June Olkowski was the first to admit the Spartans lineup puzzled her team.“What really gave us problems was the matchup,” Olkowski said.

SPORTS

White-Out for U-M

Wednesday’s game against Michigan at Breslin Center has been classified as a “White-Out” game. MSU’s athletics department is asking all attending fans to wear white T-shirts in a show of support. In other basketball news, the Big Ten Conference announced on Friday the start time for the MSU-Ohio State game on Feb.

ICE HOCKEY

U wants Mason for A.D.

Justin A. Rice
January 28, 2002

MSU hockey head coach Ron Mason will announce today that he’ll become the university’s 16th athletics director, ending a 23-year tenure at the helm of the hockey program.

ICE HOCKEY

BREAKING NEWS: Mason to be athletics director

James Jahnke
January 26, 2002

MSU President M. Peter McPherson will recommend Spartan hockey head coach Ron Mason to become the university’s next athletics director at a Monday morning press conference. University officials made the announcement Saturday night while Mason’s team was playing Ohio State at Munn Ice Arena.

SPORTS

Spurt at games end cant save Spartans from Iowa

Dan Woike
January 25, 2002

The Spartan women’s basketball team left Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday night taking some good out of their 75-55 loss to Iowa.The good news - the Spartans (12-7 overall, 2-6 Big Ten) outscored the Hawkeyes 36-33 for 20 minutes.The bad news - the Hawkeyes (13-5, 6-2) already held a 42-19 lead in the 20 minutes prior.“You would have thought that we had no scouting report going into the game, but we did,” Spartan head coach Joanne P.

SPORTS

Sports briefs

Irish host ‘U’ runnersThe men’s and women’s track teams compete in a dual meet today at Notre Dame.The women’s team (1-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten) kicks off its third meet at 6 p.m.

SPORTS

Nations best come to Jenison

Chris Mackinder
January 25, 2002

After participating in the National Coaches Wrestling Association/Cliff Keen National Duals on Saturday, the road won’t get any easier for the wrestling team. The Spartans (3-3 overall, 0-0 Big Ten) take on No.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers prepare for Buckeyes

James Jahnke
January 25, 2002

MSU begins a four-game odyssey with No. 14 Ohio State - its first four-game stand in 31 years - with two contests at Munn Ice Arena today and Saturday. The teams also play Feb.

BASKETBALL

Hoops team get depth from the football field

Justin A. Rice
January 25, 2002

After a rash of injuries, the MSU men’s basketball team is looking to the football team to fill holes on its roster.Anytime a team has a lot of injuries, it’s hard to prepare for opponents, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said.“When you’re short-handed you can’t practice as long or as hard as you want to,” Bilas said.

BASKETBALL

Wolfe out for season with hamstring tear

Eric Mckinney
January 24, 2002

The Spartans will be without sophomore forward Adam Wolfe for the remainder of the season. Wolfe suffered a severe hamstring tear to his right leg in the first half of Saturday’s Penn State game. “It’s very disappointing news,” said MSU head coach Tom Izzo in a written statement.

SPORTS

Buckeye turns green and white

Chris Mackinder
January 24, 2002

The choice came down to being a Spartan or a Buckeye for Christy Linder. In the end, she decided to go green.MSU would be an obvious and possibly easy choice for a Michigan resident, but Linder is from Ohio.Her parents are both die-hard Buckeye fans and wanted their daughter to stay close to home, but they left the decision up to her.“Since we are both Buckeye fans, we both wanted her to go to Ohio State,” said Dan Linder, Christy’s father.