If playing Division 1 college basketball is fun, playing Division 1 basketball with your childhood friend is almost indescribable.
Last season, freshmen Tori Jankoska and Aerial Powers led MSU in scoring and made an immediate impact on a season that culminated with a Big Ten title. This year, another freshman has the chance to follow in those footsteps.
The loss to No. 8 Ohio State has put to bed any hope of playing in the College Football Playoff for No. 12 MSU, but that doesn’t mean the Spartans won’t have a nice trip for a bowl game this post-season.
Junior linebacker Darien Harris has had an eventful week. The native of Silver Springs, Md. has been working the phones to ensure that as many of his family and friends are able to go to College Park, Md. to see No. 12 MSU (7-2 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) take on Maryland (6-3 overall, 3-2 Big Ten).
David Zoltowski Named Finalist For Rhodes Scholarship Senior captain advances in the pursuit of two prestigious scholarships. EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State swimming and diving senior David Zoltowski has been named a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. The Spartan captain is trying to become the 17th Michigan State student to be honored with the prestigious scholarship and the first Spartan student-athlete to be honored since Molly Brennan in 1982. The Rhodes Trust is the oldest of the major international competitive award foundations. MSU has produced 16 Rhodes Scholars since 1903. The Rhodes trust gives 32 undergraduates the opportunity to study at the University of Oxford in England. Zoltowski will head to Indianapolis, Indiana later this month to interview for the scholarship. ?I?m very excited,? said Zoltowski. ?I?ve been waiting to hear about this for a long time. I?m really excited to prepare further and go to Indianapolis to interview. I?d like to thank head coach Matt Gianiodis, Ashley Green from the scholarships office, and Jim Pignataro, among others. It would be too much to list everyone I would like to thank.? A native of West Lafayette, Indiana, Zoltowski is a Big Ten Distinguished Big Ten Scholar and Academic All-Big Ten selection. He is also a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, Eta Kappa Nu and an Honors Times Two mentor. The electrical engineering major works with an MSU professor conducting research using advance signal processing tools to study the functional connectivity networks of the human brain. ?I chose Michigan State because Coach Gianiodis gave me an opportunity to swim in the Big Ten Conference,? said Zoltowski. ?I majored in engineering because of the important skills the major develops. I?m studying the brain as an application to my research because I find it very interesting and want to learn more about developmental disorders.? After he graduates from Michigan State, he plans to pursue a doctoral degree in electrical engineering, conducting research combining electrical engineering and neuroscience to advance the knowledge of the brain. Earlier this week, Zoltowski was nominated for the Churchill Scholarship. The Winston Churchill Foundation?s Scholarship program was established in 1959. The scholarship gives 14 American students a chance to pursue a degree in engineering, mathematics, or the science in Churchill College at the University of Cambridge. Zoltowski is looking to become Michigan State University?s 17th Churchill Scholar. ?I have never been more proud about anything here at Michigan State,? said Gianiodis. ?This is fantastic, it is great for the university. I think it speaks volumes for our academic programs here at Michigan State. From an administrative standpoint, from an athletics standpoint, everything about this University I think is fantastic. I think David has a good chance of getting it too. He is without question the hardest worker we have ever had here in my 18 years at Michigan State. He is fully without question deserving of this honor. No one has worked harder to get something like this and it has been truly earned.? ?David is a proven leader and scholar,? said student-athlete support services director Jim Pignataro. ?He has exemplified the true meaning of the term student-athlete. We continue to celebrate his academic accomplishments, and are in awe of his commitment to his research and the sport of swimming.? In March, Zoltowski became the 36th MSU recipient of the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. He was also awarded the MSU Honors College National Scholarship, Walter R. Yates Memorial Scholarship and Arthur J. Harris Memorial Scholarship. A multi-event swimmer for the Spartans, Zoltowski competes in the 200 and 400 individual medley, 200 backstroke, 200 butterfly 500 and 1000 freestyle. This season against Iowa, he posted a career-best time in the 1000 freestyle, with a time of 9:36.94. He finished a career-best 34th overall in the 200 butterfly at the 2013 Big Ten Championships, swimming a personal-best time of 1:53.10. Zoltowski also posted a career-best time of 3:59.69 to place 35th in the 400 individual medley, which is the eighth-fastest time at Michigan State.
The mood was different this week when Mark Dantonio stepped up to the podium for his weekly press conference, following No. 12 MSU’s (7-2 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) 49-37 loss to No. 8 Ohio State (8-1 overall, 5-0 Big Ten).
The volleyball team will have a chance to avenge a tough loss from earlier in the season Wednesday night.
Coming into the 2014 season, MSU field hockey (10-9, 4-4 Big Ten)had high hopes.
The MSU student section has been under fire this season for poor attendance at home football games, and athletic director Mark Hollis is searching for a solution. Before Saturday’s game against Ohio State, Hollis told ABC 57 that he is looking into the possibility of heating the student section at Spartan Stadium. Hollis previously displayed disappointment in the student section after fans had emptied the section by the end of the Nebraska game.
No. 12 MSU football fell on Saturday, losing to No. 8 Ohio State, 49-37, at Spartan Stadium. The loss was spurred by an impressive performance from Buckeye freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett and ultimately killed any hopes and dreams of MSU qualifying for the inaugural College Football Playoff this postseason.
The MSU starting five of women’s basketball had a statistically impressive exhibition opener against Grand Valley State Sunday, but a few concerns were highlighted as well.
This wasn’t the way the season was supposed to go for Kori Moster and the women’s volleyball team.
The MSU women’s basketball team kicked off its season in an exhibition game against Grand Valley State on Sunday night. They were off to a shaky start, but the Spartans still walked away with a 70-51 win.
Only two months into the season, freshman swimmer Chanel Bonin is making her mark on MSU’s record books.
I woke up on Sunday morning thinking about what I had witnessed the evening before at Spartan Stadium and realized it would be easy to write how the season is lost. That all of the goals are off the table. And MSU can simply pack it in until next fall. But that’s not the case.
The No. 19-ranked men’s soccer team (11-4-4 overall, 4-2-2 Big Ten) kicked off the Big Ten Tournament with a 1-0 victory over Penn State on Sunday afternoon.
It was another tough-luck Spartan loss on Sunday afternoon. MSU (13-12 overall, 6-8 Big Ten) could not slow down white-hot No. 4 Wisconsin (22-2 overall, 13-1 Big Ten) at Jenison Field House, losing in straight sets, 3-0 (23-25, 19-25, 22-25).
He had been doing it against everyone this year, but "everyone" included a bunch of nobody's. It’s one thing to post stellar numbers against teams like Kent State, Rutgers and Illinois, but it’s another to do it against the normally stout MSU defense.
For weeks, fans in East Lansing have watched the College Football Playoff conversation with great interest because the conversation involved their team.