About a year ago at this time, the MSU baseball team returned home to a frozen baseball field and the bitter chill of March. This year has been a much different story. Having won six of their last seven games to cap a 17-game road trip, the Spartans (10-7) return home to host Oakland in the first series of the year at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field.
Madison Williams stood in the locker room, bracing herself to tell her teammates the news she heard only hours earlier. As the three simple letters “A-C-L” left her mouth, the room froze, and she left in tears after coming face to face with the looks of pity and sadness she spent the previous year fighting to move past.
The future of the MSU hockey team’s season was in the hands of Union last weekend. The team was on the bubble for a bid to the NCAA Tournament, but thanks to No. 1-seed Union’s 3-1 win Saturday against Harvard, MSU will travel to Bridgeport, Conn., this weekend to compete against the same team they were rooting for just a few days ago.
Ah yes, an underdog story. Players own the distinction of it. Fans thrive on it. Members of the media write and rewrite their stories to determine if it’s too cheesy — it almost always is. With the NCAA Tournament just days away, the MSU hockey team is about to embark on an underdog story of its own, and the narrative is its for the taking.
With the MSU men’s basketball team locking up its fourth trip to the Sweet 16 in the last five years, the Spartans continue to establish themselves as one of the best tournament programs in the country. And although that’s all fine and good, senior forward Draymond Green said players and teams aren’t remembered for making the Sweet 16.
Curran Jacobs was 60 seconds away from his first All-American honors. Competing for a top-eight spot in the NCAA Tournament this weekend — where the top eight finishers are named All-Americans — the senior 174-pounder was the remaining Spartan participating.
Led by the hot bat of junior second baseman Ryan Jones, the MSU baseball team traveled to Cincinnati this weekend and came away with a three-game sweep at Marge Schott Stadium.
Last week, MSU softball head coach Jacquie Joseph said she had the best 7-15 team in the country. This weekend, the Spartans (10-16) might have proven her right.
Before six members of the MSU wrestling team left for St. Louis to participate in the NCAA Tournament beginning on Thursday, competing junior heavyweight Steve Andrus said he felt there was no reason all six wrestlers couldn’t come back with All-American status. However, by Friday night, each of the Spartan wrestlers had been eliminated from the tournament with senior 174-pounder Curran Jacobs coming within an overtime 3-1 decision of his first All-American honors.
After making strides for the past few weeks, the MSU gymnastics team stumbled Friday when it fell to in-state rival Michigan, 196.025-192.700 at Ann Arbor.
Coming into the game against Saint Louis, the MSU men’s basketball team knew it would be well defended against. The Billikens are praised for their defense and were extremely physical and abusive to the Spartans. At least all the Spartans not named Keith Appling. The Billikens sagged of the sophomore guard and dared him to shoot. Appling has struggled with his shot all season, but he can still find the bucket when needed.
The NCAA unveiled its 2012 tournament field on Sunday, and the MSU hockey team has a new lease on life. The Spartans (19-15-4 overall, 14-11-3-2 CCHA) earned a bid as the No. seed in the East Region in the 2012 NCAA Tournament and will open against Eastern College Athletic Conference champion and No. 1-seed Union on Friday in Bridgeport, Conn. With the bid, the Spartans rank fourth in all-time tournament appearances with 27 and are in the tournament for the first time since 2008.
College Park, Md. — As Lykendra Johnson sat at a table in Breslin Center, wearing her MSU sweatsuit during the frigid early weeks of December 2011, she repeated one phrase over and over.
Columbus, Ohio — Brian Conklin has a hard time calling anything an upset anymore. Likely a new name to MSU basketball fans, Conklin is a senior forward averaging 14 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for No. 9-seed Saint Louis, who the Spartans (28-7) play at about 2:45 p.m. Sunday in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
After answering questions at the podium, Taylor Alton, with tears in her eyes, returned to the locker room and sat next to fellow senior forward Lykendra Johnson. It was the final time the duo would wear their MSU jerseys, and as Alton sat in her chair, emotionally drained from the afternoon, her fellow captain put her arm around her and the two rocked back and forth, talking of their time at MSU.
College Park, Md. — Just hours after their season ended with a 67-55 loss to No. 7 seed Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the MSU women’s basketball team already is looking ahead to next season. Although the 2011-2012 campaign is now in the books, freshman center Jasmine Hines said she felt that because the Spartans refused to quit during the loss, they had laid a good framework to build on in preparation for next season. “We’re all competitors,” Hines said.
Columbus, Ohio — A lot of talk in Saturday’s press conference was on the disappearance of centers in the game of basketball.
As Tom Izzo readies to attempt another deep NCAA Tournament run, the praise of the MSU men’s basketball head coach’s March success is coming out yet again.
For possibly the first time all season, the men’s basketball team’s center duo of Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne were on in the same game in Friday’s 89-67 win against LIU Brooklyn.
Columbus, Ohio — The home of Ohio State is almost painted green this week. With St. Patrick’s Day weekend and the MSU men’s basketball team in town for the NCAA Tournament, seemingly everyone has a touch of green to their outfits.