As the clock wound down on MSU’s Sweet 16 loss to Memphis and its season, Tom Izzo took a glimpse into the future. The MSU head coach rotated freshmen guards Kalin Lucas, Chris Allen and Durrell Summers in with sophomore forward Raymar Morgan, junior center Goran Suton and junior guard Travis Walton as seniors Drew Naymick and Drew Neitzel said their goodbyes.
Early on, it was more of a slam-dunk contest than a basketball game, and unfortunately for the MSU men’s basketball team, they weren’t invited to the aerial circus.
In a sea of burnt orange T-shirts and hats, every so often refreshing waves of green would splash onto the humid streets of Houston.
Houston – The last thing Drew Neitzel did as a Spartan was shoot a 3-pointer. The senior guard took a pass, stepped back a few feet from behind the arc and let it fly. Nothing but net. Coming 20-point performances in three of his last four games, Neitzel had just six points – with seven assists – in his last MSU game. After a season in which Neitzel admitted to being a bit scatterbrained, he ended with a strong postseason and now looks to the future. “It’s tough,” he said.
Houston – Like a flash, it was gone. The Spartans were dismantled in the first 20 minutes of their NCAA Tournament regional semifinal against Memphis in Houston on Friday, and found themselves in a hole they couldn’t climb out of – eventually losing, 92-74. MSU was picked apart like they hadn’t been all season in a first half that likened itself to a 16-seed versus a one-seed rather than a 5-seed picked to have a chance at upsetting a top team in the country.
It turned out to be a battle to see which team could launch fewer bricks. The MSU women’s basketball team skidded by Kansas, 58-54, Thursday night at Breslin Center, shooting 34.5 percent from the field.
As soon as Detroit was announced as a site for this weekend’s NCAA Tournament basketball games, MSU alumnus DeArron Easley knew he had to go. “I decided to go to the games at Ford Field because I am a basketball nut who loves this time of year,” he said.
Through Kalin Lucas’ eyes, tonight’s game against Memphis will look more like the Kentucky Derby than the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. The freshman guard said the fans who make their way to Reliant Stadium at 10 p.m. in Houston are in store for a lightning-quick, up-and-down basketball game between two teams that strive to run a blazing fast-break offense.
At 7 a.m. Monday morning, junior guard Travis Walton busted into roommate junior center Goran Suton’s bedroom with his butt down, head up, on the balls of his feet — chopping his legs back and forth to symbolize his defensive stance.
For all that has been said about Tom Izzo’s basketball teams playing like football players and his notorious “war drill” that features football pads, it’s only appropriate that the Spartans will play their Sweet 16 game in a football stadium this weekend.
It may not be the national championship they originally wanted, but it’s the one they are on track to receive.
The State News caught up with freshman guard Brittney Thomas to find out how she got involved with basketball and what she’s like off the court.
The MSU women’s basketball team has the ability to lose its next game or take it all the way. Head coach Suzy Merchant said the Spartans have used, and will continue to use the pent up anger and disappointment that came with missing out on the NCAA Tournament to fuel their way to a WNIT championship.
MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo seems to have the ability to see what other people can’t. At least, specifically, in the case of Goran Suton.
The court wasn’t the only place MSU men’s basketball fans could spot the team’s 6-foot-11-inch junior center, Idong Ibok.
A week ago, the MSU men’s basketball team and head coach Tom Izzo left Indianapolis dejected and dispirited after their exit from the Big Ten Tournament. On Saturday night, it was all smiles about sweet, sweet redemption in Denver.
Some dedicated MSU basketball fans attend all the home games, an occasional away game and maybe even paint their faces before screaming the fight song at the top of their lungs.
Flash back five months. The MSU men’s basketball team was ranked No. 8 in the country, chosen as a favorite to win the Big Ten and Drew Neitzel was named the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year.
Freshman forward Kalisha Keane has an admirer. No, not an MSU women’s basketball fan, but Bowling Green women’s basketball head coach Curt Miller.
And now it’s off to the Sweet 16 — a place MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo has been seven times in the past 11 years. But what separates this year’s Spartans from the other six is their ability to hit the playbooks — not just their own, but their opponent’s as well.