As MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo enters his seventh season at the helm, he said he plans on taking the same course he used to win four straight Big Ten titles.“What I think what we’ve done, we have a blueprint of what it takes,” Izzo said at media day Wednesday.
The MSU men’s basketball team has a three-game ticket plan for home games during the holiday break that are not part of any student ticket plan. The “Holiday Pack” goes on sale Monday at the Jenison Field House Ticket Office and includes tickets to home games against UNC-Asheville on Dec.
The sounds blasting over the speakers may have come from the past, but the faces on the floor reflected the future for the MSU men’s and women’s basketball teams.At 10:30 p.m.
The first step toward another winning basketball season begins tonight and the Spartans aren’t too proud to ask for some support.The MSU men’s and women’s basketball teams officially begin their seasons with the Motown Lo’Down at 10:30 p.m today in Breslin Center.Players will be available to sign autographs, and prizes will be given away before the teams are officially introduced with Motown tunes blasting in the background.At midnight, the first official practice for both teams will begin, giving fans a sneak look at the Spartan teams.For the men, that team will be drastically different than last year’s.The team lost five seniors after they graduated (including starters Charlie Bell, Andre Hutson and David Thomas) and said adios to guard Jason Richardson and forward Zach Randolph, who left early for the NBA.That mass exodus has put a tad bit of pressure on the remaining players and new freshmen to follow four years of Big Ten Championships, three straight Final Four appearances and the 2000 National Championship.“The (freshmen) have to step up, they don’t really have a choice,” junior forward Adam Ballinger said.
MSU students seeking a spot in the Izzone will have a chance to earn tickets this week, but the process is slightly different than in years past.
One of East Lansing’s most beloved sports heroes will no longer be just a stone’s throw away from the MSU campus. The Detroit Pistons traded point guard Mateen Cleaves, who guided MSU to a NCAA men’s basketball national championship in 2000, to the Sacramento Kings on Friday. For Cleaves, Detroit acquired swingman Jon Barry, 32, and a first-round draft pick that cannot come before 2004. Ironically, the deal consummated on Cleaves’ 24th birthday, a year and a day after he signed a 3-year, $4.1 million contract with Detroit. Cleaves, a Flint native, played only one season for his childhood favorite Pistons, but his reputation as a local kid with a big heart and an incredible work ethic instantly made him one of the Pistons’ most popular players. That’s why many in the area were shocked to hear the news that Cleaves was being shipped to the West Coast after only one year in Motown. “It’s an obstacle for him,” said former Spartan cager and 11-year NBA veteran Steve Smith, who was traded to the San Antonio Spurs this summer.
Flint Northern senior Matt Trannon has a decision to make about where he will go to school next fall. But his decision circles around two sports he has shown the same compassion for throughout high school - basketball and football.
As if losing seven players to graduation and the NBA Draft wasn’t enough. Now MSU could possibly face its toughest feat in recent history, battling the likes of Florida and Stanford on the road this season.
A day after saying the Spartans were tied with Ohio State at the top of his consideration list, jettisoned Michigan basketball recruit JaQuan Hart said MSU is now out of the running for his services.“It’s down to Ohio State and Cincinnati,” Hart told The State News on Wednesday night.
Three days after Indianapolis forward Delco Rowley verbally committed to MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo, Detroit Crockett High School shooting guard Maurice Ager decided to become the third member of Spartans’ 2002 recruiting class.“It came down to a family choice,” the senior-to-be and Mr. Basketball candidate said.
A new suggestion from an athletics commission may force schools to emphasize education as much as sports. In an announcement made Tuesday, the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics said colleges with low athlete graduation rates should be banned from postseason play. “We’re not in the entertainment business, nor are we a minor league for professional sports,” the Rev.
Perhaps you should have seen it coming.The recent success of the MSU men’s basketball program has brought national attention to East Lansing and the university.
Sophomore guard Jason Richardson’s decision to leave college early for the NBA hit MSU fans hard, but things may get worse before a recovery can begin. At 1:15 p.m.
College basketball is filled with McDonald’s All-Americans and blue chippers that should have been great.But when one blossoms, it’s truly something special.As a freshman, many demand to start, demand the ball and demand the spotlight.
Anytime a coach throws freshmen into the madness of March, it’s a gamble. But the Spartans left Memphis, Tenn., holding all the chips. MSU head coach Tom Izzo said he never thought twice about playing freshmen guard Marcus Taylor and center Zach Randolph their normal minutes in their first NCAA Tournament. And why should he?