As the fans start to funnel into US Airways Arena in for the Sweet 16 matchup between No. 1-seed MSU and No. 1-seed MSU and No. 4-seed Louisville, the colors are dominated by green and white.
Madison Williams stood in the locker room, bracing herself to tell her teammates the news she heard only hours earlier. As the three simple letters “A-C-L” left her mouth, the room froze, and she left in tears after coming face to face with the looks of pity and sadness she spent the previous year fighting to move past.
With the MSU men’s basketball team locking up its fourth trip to the Sweet 16 in the last five years, the Spartans continue to establish themselves as one of the best tournament programs in the country. And although that’s all fine and good, senior forward Draymond Green said players and teams aren’t remembered for making the Sweet 16.
Coming into the game against Saint Louis, the MSU men’s basketball team knew it would be well defended against. The Billikens are praised for their defense and were extremely physical and abusive to the Spartans. At least all the Spartans not named Keith Appling. The Billikens sagged of the sophomore guard and dared him to shoot. Appling has struggled with his shot all season, but he can still find the bucket when needed.
College Park, Md. — As Lykendra Johnson sat at a table in Breslin Center, wearing her MSU sweatsuit during the frigid early weeks of December 2011, she repeated one phrase over and over.
Columbus, Ohio — Brian Conklin has a hard time calling anything an upset anymore. Likely a new name to MSU basketball fans, Conklin is a senior forward averaging 14 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for No. 9-seed Saint Louis, who the Spartans (28-7) play at about 2:45 p.m. Sunday in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
After answering questions at the podium, Taylor Alton, with tears in her eyes, returned to the locker room and sat next to fellow senior forward Lykendra Johnson. It was the final time the duo would wear their MSU jerseys, and as Alton sat in her chair, emotionally drained from the afternoon, her fellow captain put her arm around her and the two rocked back and forth, talking of their time at MSU.
College Park, Md. — Just hours after their season ended with a 67-55 loss to No. 7 seed Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the MSU women’s basketball team already is looking ahead to next season. Although the 2011-2012 campaign is now in the books, freshman center Jasmine Hines said she felt that because the Spartans refused to quit during the loss, they had laid a good framework to build on in preparation for next season. “We’re all competitors,” Hines said.
Columbus, Ohio — A lot of talk in Saturday’s press conference was on the disappearance of centers in the game of basketball.
As Tom Izzo readies to attempt another deep NCAA Tournament run, the praise of the MSU men’s basketball head coach’s March success is coming out yet again.
For possibly the first time all season, the men’s basketball team’s center duo of Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne were on in the same game in Friday’s 89-67 win against LIU Brooklyn.
Columbus, Ohio — The home of Ohio State is almost painted green this week. With St. Patrick’s Day weekend and the MSU men’s basketball team in town for the NCAA Tournament, seemingly everyone has a touch of green to their outfits.
The madness has arrived. This weekend, the No. 10-seed MSU women’s basketball team (20-11) will open the first round of the NCAA Tournament against No. 7-seed Louisville (22-9) on Saturday (1:45 p.m., ESPN2) in College Park, Md.
Brandon Wood hasn’t always had it this good. Now a senior guard with the MSU men’s basketball team, it wasn’t long ago that Wood was playing at mid-major schools and community colleges.
When Branden Dawson went down with a season-ending knee injury in the MSU men’s basketball team’s regular season finale a week and a half ago, the Spartans didn’t have much time to adjust. Four days later, MSU traveled to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament without the freshman guard — who started all 31 games before tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in a 72-70 loss to Ohio State.
The thought of returning home has crossed Taylor Alton’s mind more than once this season. The senior forward is a Colorado native, and after learning this year’s Final Four will be held in Denver, Alton said her teammates began telling her they would help her find her way home.
Spartans aren’t known to root for Wolverines, but as the MSU women’s basketball team (20-11 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) waited to see if it made the NCAA Tournament, the school from Ann Arbor gave reason to hope.
Entering the Big Ten Tournament, the MSU men’s basketball team dropped two in a row and a chance at an outright Big Ten regular-season title,but the Spartans (27-7) bounced back and won their outright title on Sunday and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
When the MSU men’s basketball program won its last national championship in 2000, the current Spartans were in grade school, still familiarizing themselves with the game of basketball.
The MSU men’s basketball team got its outright conference championship in the Big Ten Tournament title game, where the Spartans bested Ohio State, 68-64. Just as head coach Tom Izzo promised last week at Senior Day, after a loss to Ohio State, they won their title back.