A week removed from a strong showing at the Hoosier Classic, the MSU softball team is ready to open the Big Ten season with a three-game weekend series against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.
Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino have been around long enough to know what it takes to win this time of year.
After falling to No. 31 in the regional qualifying score, or RQS, rankings, the MSU gymnasts should be on their heels as they head into the Big Ten Championship in Iowa City, Iowa on Saturday. The Spartans (7-3-1) are coming off a tough 196.025-192.700 road loss to No. 21 Michigan, and their score of 192.700 allowed a couple of teams to jump ahead of them in the rankings, dropping three spots from No. 28 and potentially putting them in the hot seat to be one of the teams left out of the top 36 that qualify for regionals.
Brett Perlini and Tanner Sorenson are at the opposite ends of their career at MSU. Both forwards for the Spartan hockey program, one’s a senior, one’s a freshman. One is headed to the NHL after this season, the other more than likely back to his dorm room. One represents the wave of the past, one is a major part of the arc of the future.
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 about 100 Izzone members in attendance to send the MSU men’s basketball team off to Phoenix for the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Andrew Klimbal came away a little disappointed.
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.
Columbus, Ohio — The MSU men’s basketball team gained a lot in identity this weekend after earning a trip to Phoenix and the Sweet 16 on Thursday. Three days ago, the media heard a lot of talk from LIU Brooklyn about how slow-paced the Spartans are.
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 — Nothing about the MSU men’s basketball team’s game against Saint Louis in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament surprised head coach Tom Izzo.