While the defeat of the men’s basketball team by Arizona on Saturday was disappointing, MSU has a lot to be proud of. MSU lost to the Wildcats 80-61 in the Spartans’ third-straight appearance in the Final Four, ending hopes for a repeat of last year’s NCAA Championship. More than 2,000 people filled the streets surrounding Cedar Village after the game in a generally peaceful gathering.
MSU Provost Lou Anna Simon stood under the protection of a tree at the corner of Waters Edge Drive and Cedar Street. All around her, some 2,000 people stood on the lawns and sidewalks of the area apartments.
Going up against defending national champion North Dakota in the Frozen Four this week, one might think MSU head coach Ron Mason would be poring over any tape of the Fighting Sioux he could get his hands on. But that’s not the case. “If you start too soon on the other team, you’ll forget about them by the time you get there,” Mason said.
MINNEAPOLIS - It wasn’t the extended weekend that Spartan fans had hoped for, as their dreams of the NCAA Championship repeat were mauled by the Arizona Wildcats in the Final Four semifinal game. Some Spartans packed up early Sunday to leave town, while others stuck around to watch tonight’s title game and shop at the Mall of America in Bloomington. Some were disappointed in MSU’s performance, while others said just to be in the Final Four for the third-consecutive year was good enough. Alan Borman, a public relations senior, said to see three Final Fours in his four years at MSU was more than he could ever have hoped for. “No other student at any other school can say that,” he said. Borman used frequent flier miles to travel to Minneapolis, but he had never planned on staying for tonight’s game even if the Spartans were in it. Instead, he had always planned on returning to MSU for the “atmosphere.” “I was going back to East Lansing no matter what,” he insisted. He estimates he spent about $300 on his weekend in the land of 10,000 lakes.
Almost as soon as the final buzzer sounded Saturday night, more than 2,000 people flooded out of apartments in the Cedar Village area and into the streets - an odd scene considering MSU’s 80-61 Final Four loss to Arizona. “The party here tonight is like TRL on crack,” computer science freshman Alfred Lertkiat said among the mass of people.
While many Spartan fans made the trek to Minneapolis to watch the NCAA Final Four this weekend, many others wound up in East Lansing.From an hour’s drive to more than an hour-long plane ride, MSU basketball supporters flocked downtown to watch the game with fellow Spartans.Jeffrey Ellman, a 2000 graduate, watched the Arizona-MSU semifinal game at Harper’s Restaurant & Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave.“Spartan fans don’t realize how fortunate we are to be here three years in a row,” Ellman said of the Spartans’ accomplishment of making three straight Final Four appearances.
I am encouraging graduate students to vote against unionization. If students don’t get out and vote, the decision will be made only by a select few who feel strongly about the issue.
March is generally not known as the season for giving. That’s the reason members of Rather Hall Residence Life chose to sleep out for the homeless from 11 p.m.
Heidi Wenger is sick of paying high fees to get her money out of the bank.“Banks usually charge outrageous fees,” said the finance graduate student, who withdraws money using ATMs nearly every day.
The hearts of MSU student athletes got a little bigger Friday morning as they spoke to more than 800 Lansing elementary school students at the “I’ve Got Heart” event.The 14th annual National Student Athlete Day was honored with the event held in the gym of the IM Sports-West.
More than 100 people received a mix of Filipino culture and humor Saturday night at Halo Halo 2001, which was held in Anthony Hall.“Halo halo” is the name of a popular Filipino dessert, and translates from Tagalog - a Filipino language - into “mix mix.”The name fit the occasion, said Marisa Cruz, an Asian Pacific American minority aide in Wonders Hall who helped coordinate the event.“We wanted to portray this as a mix of modern Filipino culture,” said Cruz, a microbiology and pre-med junior.Three dances demonstrated various aspects of Philippine society and heritage during the event, presented by the Philippine American Student Society and the Asian Pacific American minority aides of South and Brody complexes as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.One group performed a dance created by the Igorot - the indigenous culture of the Philippines - while another showed the influence of Spanish culture on the islands in a Paso Doble dance.“For over 400 years, the Philippines was a Spanish colony,” said English senior Garri Madera, who served as the show’s master of ceremonies.
Heidi Wenger is sick of paying high fees to get her money out of the bank.“Banks usually charge outrageous fees,” said the finance graduate student, who withdraws money using ATMs nearly every day.
Engineering freshman Jonathan Sedon hadn’t heard about the massive immunization effort for meningitis on campus a year ago, or reports about a student hospitalized with the potentially deadly disease. But he got his shot anyway. “My mom told me to get the vaccination,” said Sedon, who received a vaccination for meningitis before he came to MSU.
Everyone wants the world to change in some way, shape or form. Everyone has an opinion on how things could be better.
Luck wasn’t on the Spartans’ side Saturday, but that certainly wasn’t due to a lack of spirit displayed by students such as Ko Maeda.He joined 4,700 people gathered at Breslin Student Events Center to watch the game - but he came with green and white face paint and a clown wig.“I did this last year too and we won, so I had to come here again so we’d win,” said Maeda, a political science graduate student from Japan.
LOS ANGELES - Miramax plans to launch a film series that will showcase at least 10 films a year from around the world in top U.S.
MINNEAPOLIS - It’s 10:30 a.m. Sunday, about 15 hours after the men’s basketball team’s back-to-back title hopes were squashed by the Arizona Wildcats. And Andy Perkins is a little disappointed, a little groggy and pretty hungry. “This breakfast does rule the universe,” the music education senior and member of Spartan Brass said, before he tackled an impressive pile of scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage and a bowl of cereal, topped with a banana. Dressed in an MSU jersey and shorts, and covering his bed-head with a green and white baseball cap, the trombone player eats breakfast with other members of the band in its Embassy Suites Hotel. They had hopes of playing tonight at the NCAA Championship game.
A group of MSU scientists have been asked by NASA to join in the search for life throughout the universe.
LANSING - Traffic officials say they’re prepared for the closure of Interstate-496 through downtown at 6:01 p.m.
Kristy Snape and her roommates got to the Union two and a half hours early and were first in line to see former cast members of MTV’s “The Real World.” But she hasn’t seen the show much. “I’ve seen it because my roommates watch it, but I saw the episode of ‘Dawson’s Creek’ with Danny,” the nutrition sophomore said.