While MSU students were enjoying their spring break, two Spartan athletes were busy becoming All-Americans. Senior Paul Terek and sophomore Steve Sherer competed in the 2002 NCAA Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend. For Terek, this was the second year in a row he took home All-America honors for the pole vault.
Utility players are a rarity in hockey.The capable-at-all-positions players are better known in baseball, where fielding principles from second base to left field are similar.Hockey generally doesn’t lend itself to position-hopping, partly because players are taught to station themselves on the ice for offensive attacking and defensive coverage based on their assigned position.But don’t tell MSU junior forward Troy Ferguson there’s no place for a jack-of-all-trades in hockey.
The MSU women’s basketball team’s season will continue following an invitation into the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. After being denied an NCAA berth, the Spartans (16-12) were invited to host the first round of the WNIT.
Plenty of Spartans were honored by the CCHA during spring break, including junior goaltender Ryan Miller and junior defenseman John-Michael Liles making the All-CCHA first team. Miller leads the CCHA with a 1.75 goals against average, .937 saves percentage, 25 wins and eight shutouts.
MSU men’s head basketball coach Tom Izzo’s weekly roundtable with the media turned into an open forum Monday - a day after the Spartans earned a No.
Despite an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, the MSU men’s basketball team heads into the NCAA Tournament with its finger on its biggest problem - intensity.The question will be, “Can the Spartans pick up the intensity after losing to Indiana in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament?”That same question was MSU head coach Tom Izzo’s biggest concern heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
A very critical factor in a team’s success during the NCAA Tournament can be who you play. And with a shocking upset just around the corner, anything is possible. Let’s take a look at the other teams in the bottom half of the East regional bracket. First round opponent: No.
The wrestling team (5-12, 2-6) finished eighth with 54.5 points in the 2002 Big Ten Wrestling Championships hosted by Illinois. The Spartans were led by juniors Rashad Evans and Gray Maynard, who each placed fourth.
Brian Maloney is as tough as anyone on the Spartan hockey team.The junior left wing from Bassano, Alberta is MSU’s enforcer on the ice - methodically antagonizing the other team and administering bone-rattling body checks.
A lot of basketball teams can look good in stretches, hitting a few shots in a row or stopping their opponents for a couple of minutes.
As the No. 10 seed MSU men’s basketball team tries to rally in the NCAA Tournament, it will look to its point guard for a spark - a position teams traditionally turn to in March.Great point guards have typically led the teams that make runs in the tournament’s history.
March is nearly every sports fan’s favorite month - and despite what the shameless self-promoters at ESPN will tell you, it’s not because “A Season on the Brink” aired. And while the “total sports network” ventures in Brian Dennehy movies, I’ll try to find something a little more worthwhile to write about. I have to resist any urge to write a “65 things I love about March” column, because it’s in the best interest of you, the reader, and my reputation to avoid any and all gimmicky columns - i.e.
The Spartans’ dreams of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament officially ended Sunday when the selection committee passed on the MSU women’s basketball team. As the final bracket was being displayed, the emotions began to show in the Spartans.
Indianapolis - The shadows of three consecutive Final Four appearances loom over the MSU men’s basketball team as it enters the NCAA Tournament as a No.
For weeks, MSU head coach Ron Mason said he wanted the CCHA title race to come down to the last weekend of the season. He got his wish. The fifth-ranked Spartans (23-6-5 overall, 17-5-4 CCHA) enter this weekend’s season finale against Ferris State deadlocked atop the league standings with archrival Michigan. MSU and U-M both play tonight and Saturday with championship implications weighing heavily on every shot, save and goal. Both teams are favored to sweep their home-and-home series - U-M plays sixth-place Western Michigan - but if either team slips up even a little bit, it could pave the title road for a hated rival.
Experiences can take someone a lot of different places. They’ve taken Hawkeye guard Ryan Hogan from Illinois to Kentucky to Iowa, with stops all along the way.
A Spartan win Saturday would guarantee the men’s basketball team a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament. MSU (18-10 overall, 9-6 Big Ten) needs to win its final regular-season game against Iowa (16-13, 5-10) at Breslin Center to earn the No.
Game 1: No. 8 Illinois (14-12 overall, 7-9 Big Ten) vs. No. 9 Michigan (16-11, 6-10) 3 p.m.
Optimism and excitement have surrounded the Spartans’ late-season success. But a few months back, the MSU faithful could only look to what lay well ahead for excitement. The future seemed to be at least one year away for the Spartans (18-10 overall, 9-6 Big Ten) not too long ago. Opening the Big Ten season with three straight back-breaking losses, MSU’s youth and inexperience quickly became a stumbling block and postseason hopes seemed to spell NIT. The first was a 70-67 loss at Minnesota on Jan.
With the move to Indianapolis, Big Ten Tournamentgoers won’t be able to rely on the familiar nightlife of Chicago for their entertainment. The intensity of Big Ten basketball promises to be the same.