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Sports | Basketball

BASKETBALL

Brutal nonconference schedule will prepare team for postseason

Patrick Walters
October 15, 2003

A nonconference schedule as difficult as the MSU men's basketball team's this season is giving head coach Tom Izzo and his team two options - do or die.With an updated urgency surrounding the Spartans to win a championship this season - not just games, as Izzo put it - games against heavyweights Duke, Kentucky and Oklahoma within state lines and road trips to Kansas, UCLA and Syracuse are giving MSU a chance to make an early mark as a national title contender.But is it best to play top teams and risk burning out early, or prepare for the best and learn from tough defeats?

BASKETBALL

Junior trio shoots for national championship

Alan Anderson, Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert were getting ready for their respective high school proms when MSU appeared in its last Final Four. The three junior players entered MSU in 2001, two seasons after Mateen Cleaves led the Spartans to the 2000 NCAA National Championship.

BASKETBALL

3-on-3 tourney opens in E.L.

Don Jordan
September 22, 2003

Thousands of hoop enthusiasts flocked to downtown East Lansing this weekend to christen the city's asphalt courts during the city's first 3-on-3 Howard Soifer Memorial Gus Macker Basketball Tournament.Albert Avenue was closed off from Bailey Street to M.A.C.

BASKETBALL

Izzo loses three frontcourt recruits

Patrick Walters
September 19, 2003

MSU men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo can now cross three names off the list of possible recruits for the 2004 season. Grand Ledge junior Al Horford announced his verbal commitment to U-M on Thursday, ending days of speculation that the 6-foot-8, 211-pound forward would commit to the Wolverines.

BASKETBALL

Izzo lands recruit for 2005 season

Patrick Walters
September 2, 2003

MSU's newest Spartan was in Spartan Stadium on Saturday - but it wasn't to play football.The MSU men's basketball program received their first verbal commitment for the 2005 recruiting class on Saturday in Bay City Central junior Eric Devendorf.

BASKETBALL

Richardson testifies in court

Patrick Walters
August 29, 2003

Former MSU basketball star Jason Richardson was in Saginaw County District Court on Thursday to testify that he had acted in self- defense in a domestic dispute last April, the Saginaw News reported Thursday. Richardson, now with the NBA's Golden State Warriors, was charged in April of domestic violence after former girlfriend Roshonda Jacqmain accused Richardson of shoving her into a wall and kicking her when he came to pick up the couple's daughter. Richardson testified that the two did argue when Richardson went to Jacqmain's Saginaw home on April 29 to visit his daughter but that when Jacqmain brought up her fist, Richardson grabbed her and shook her. After Richardson let her go, she fell to the floor, Richardson said.

BASKETBALL

Spartans' hoop schedule features U-M twice

The national spotlight will be casting its light on the Spartan Men's Basketball team many times this season. The Big Ten released this year's conference schedule Tuesday, which includes eight nationally televised games for MSU. The 16-game stretch, which is sandwiched between byes at the beginning and the end of the season, will begin Jan.

BASKETBALL

Jordan, Bird might play against 'U'

Lindsey Anderson
August 13, 2003

Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Scott Skiles might match up against Tom Izzo's Spartans this fall in what would be the greatest exhibition game played on the Breslin Center hardwood. Rumors circulated Tuesday on campus about the NBA legends competing against the Spartans in the preseason Magic Johnson All-Stars game Nov.

BASKETBALL

Izzo, Hill still in medal contention at Pan Ams

MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo and the rest of Team USA faced its second loss at the 2003 Pan American Games on Tuesday, forcing the Americans to move to the bronze medal game. Team USA (2-2) lost to Brazil 92-80 in the last five minutes of the semifinal game.

BASKETBALL

Hill joins U.S. Pan Am team

MSU junior guard Chris Hill is set to go from MSU baller to representative of the United States. Hill was among 12 college players chosen nationwide for the USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games Team.

BASKETBALL

Davis leads Team USA to fifth place finish

The USA World Junior Championship team had a rocky stretch during the weekend, falling to Australia, but rebounding to defeat Slovenia and Puerto Rico to close out the basketball tournament in fifth place. Team USA (7-1) defeated Puerto Rico on Saturday, 82-80.

BASKETBALL

Sports briefs

Team USA still perfect after edging Lithuania The USA Junior World Championship Team is still dominating the 2003 FIBA Men's Junior World Championships. MSU sophomore center Paul Davis and sophomore guard Maurice Ager continued their undefeated exposure to international basketball on Tuesday with a slim 87-84 victory over Lithuania. Davis scored 13 in the evenly-matched game, his most weighty basket a score with just under seven minutes remaining to give Team USA (5-0) a 71-68 lead.

BASKETBALL

'BasketBowl' sells out, 75,000 expected

Natosha Diggs
July 14, 2003

Fans of MSU or Kentucky basketball without tickets to the schools' Dec. 13 matchup are officially hard-pressed to find a ticket because "The BasketBowl" is sold out.After season-ticket holders and university donors from both schools claimed the first 50,672 seats, the remaining 19,028 tickets allotted to the general public on Tuesday sold out in a span of four days, according to the Ford Field Ticket Office.

BASKETBALL

'BasketBowl' on sell-out pace

MSU's attempt to set a world record in basketball attendance is shaping up into a reality as ticket sales for "The BasketBowl" have now topped 50,000. On Saturday, MSU ticket manager Chris Besanceney reported that 50,172 tickets have been sold for the Kentucky-MSU basketball game at Ford Field in Detroit on Dec.

BASKETBALL

Lorbek withdraws from draft

Sarah Frank
June 19, 2003

Erazem Lorbek is going pro - again. Lorbek surprised the Spartan nation following MSU's Elite Eight appearance with what some believe a premature announcement that he would forgo his three remaining years of eligibility and enter his name in the NBA's draft. But the 6-foot-10 Slovenian will formally announce today his decision to withdraw his interest in the NBA's June 26 draft so he can pursue playing professional basketball in Europe, said his father, Radovan Lorbek, on Wednesday. Whether Lorbek will commit to the NBA in a year remains unknown. "He will play next year in Europe and he will decide from the season," Radovan Lorbek said.

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Top teams fill Spartan basketball schedule

Evan Rondeau
June 18, 2003

For the first time in NCAA history, the Spartan basketball team is set to play five of the 11 winningest programs of all-time in one of the hardest nonconference schedules in school history.The Spartans will face Duke at Breslin Center, travel to Kansas, UCLA and Syracuse and play Oklahoma and Kentucky at Detroit area neutral sites - the Palace of Auburn Hills and Ford Field, respectively.Head coach Tom Izzo said in a statement this year's schedule is shaping up to be one of the toughest the Spartans have seen and one of the hardest in the nation.John Lewandowski, assistant athletic director at MSU, says the schedule against those five schools is arguably the toughest he's seen."This schedule will go down as one of the toughest in the history of college basketball, not just MSU," Lewandowski said.

BASKETBALL

Spartans hope for success in upcoming season

Last March, three wins in seven days at the 2003 NCAA Tournament laid a season of skepticism surrounding the MSU men's basketball team to rest - and woke up the groggy sleeping giant of MSU basketball fandom.But even though the Spartans' run to the Elite Eight in the 2003 NCAA Tournament was an improbable - albeit unexpected - step back to championship-caliber expectations, players and coaches are looking toward the national crown this season regardless.Last season, all talk was about "bridging the gap" between the Spartans of 2003 and the 2000 national championship team that cut down the nets at the Final Four.

BASKETBALL

'U' hopes to make team

Dawn Klemish
June 4, 2003

After a weekend of tryouts, three MSU athletes have taken another step toward taking the summer off from Spartan basketball and representing the United States against the rest of the world.Junior guard Chris Hill, sophomore forward Paul Davis and sophomore guard Maurice Ager all made the cut as finalists under consideration for placement on two different USA Basketball teams."It just shows that we're more than just basketball, we can go out and represent our country," Davis said.