Monday, April 13, 2026

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Sports | Basketball Men's 1037

SPORTS

Recipe for Big Ten success: more Rogaine, less Bo

Big Ten — what happened? You were ranked No. 1 in conference RPI before the NCAA Tournament began and got six bids into the Big Dance. After the first four days of play, all six teams from the best conference in the land are left scratching their heads and wondering what went wrong.

SPORTS

Front and center

The State News recently caught up with MSU women's basketball junior guard Victoria Lucas-Perry. • Her favorite movie… "I love 'Dodgeball' — it's hilarious." • Her favorite song… "'Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It' (by Dem Franchize Boyz). Me and my teammates do a dance to it." • Her favorite ice cream… "Chocolate chip cookie dough.

SPORTS

From the road

Men's basketball reporter Tom Keller concluded his days on the road in Dayton, Ohio. We stayed in the Dayton Marriott, which was quite a change of pace from the steady diet of Best Westerns and Days Inns we've stayed at all season.

SPORTS

Simmons brothers finish season as All-Americans

Nick and Andy Simmons repeated as wrestling All-Americans at the 2006 NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City this past weekend, but fell short of their goals to bring home national championships. Nick Simmons earned a fourth-place finish at 125 pounds for the second straight year, and 141-pound Andy Simmons improved from sixth place in 2005 to fifth place. Two other MSU wrestlers — seniors R.J.

ICE HOCKEY

Comley and his seniors endured the ups, downs

There's a saying that goes "You're only as good as your seniors." Well this weekend, the four regularly dressed MSU seniors were about as good as you can be on and off the ice. Defensemen Corey Potter and Jared Nightingale and forwards Colton Fretter and David Booth have been through the downs of the program and have helped return the Spartans to a status of national superiority. It took them four years, but finally each of these well-deserving seniors will leave with a sense of satisfaction.

SPORTS

Catching up with...

Get the lowdown on how the players of the next men's hoops class still playing in the high school boys' playoffs fared. Isaiah Dahlman Shooting guard/small forward 6-foot-6, 175 pounds Braham Area High School (Braham, Minn.) With a 41-point effort Friday in the Section 6AA finals, Dahlman broke the all-time Minnesota boys' basketball scoring record, the Isanti County News reported.

SPORTS

Monday musings

A different take on the sports world. Wide receiver Terrell Owens, who was cut from the Philadelphia Eagles last season for his repeated on- and off-the-field antics, signed with the Dallas Cowboys last week. As part of the deal, Dallas head coach Bill Parcells will receive an aspirin to be named later. A Chicago-based consulting firm estimates that this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament will cost employers $3.8 billion in lost productivity. Ironically, that's also the number of times the phrase, "My bracket is so screwed," will be uttered during the next month. In a related story, Bradley, George Mason and Wichita State all made surprise advances to the Sweet 16. What conference are these teams from again?

ICE HOCKEY

Icers skate into semifinals vs. Michigan

Four of the last five meetings between the No. 11 Wolverines and No. 5 Spartans have gone into overtime and resulted in ties. If today's CCHA semifinal matchup at Joe Louis Arena is anything reminiscent of the recent past, the two rivals could play into the early hours of Saturday morning to decide who advances to the conference championship game to play for the Mason Cup. "They're a really quality team," MSU head coach Rick Comley said.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers pose threat to tourney opponents

How would you describe the No. 5 MSU hockey team? In previous years, you might have called the Spartans underachievers and wanted to pull your hair out while watching games. But that was in previous years. If there's one thing the MSU hockey team has proven this season, it's that the Spartans are no fluke. The Spartans are the definition of the word "team." Multiple players have stepped up this season with game-changing goals, hits and saves.

ICE HOCKEY

Front and center

The State News recently caught up with MSU hockey senior forward David Booth. MSU faces Michigan Friday in Detroit. • His favorite teammate to pick on… "(Zak) McClellan.

BASKETBALL

Neitzel's struggles are team's losses

Sure, MSU's Big Three of Maurice Ager, Shannon Brown and Paul Davis are key cogs in the MSU basketball machine, but more than those three, the most important cog is proving to be point guard Drew Neitzel. When Neitzel's game is on, MSU is a hard team to stop.