Early on, it was more of a slam-dunk contest than a basketball game, and unfortunately for the MSU men’s basketball team, they weren’t invited to the aerial circus.
Somebody had her Wheaties. Senior outfielder Nikki Nicosia tallied a hat trick of home runs, and freshman shortstop Bianca Mejia blasted two out of the park in Sunday’s doubleheader against Wisconsin.
It was all about having fun at Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament for the MSU gymnastics team. This was not the same team that showed up to last year’s tournament and left empty-handed with a dead-last, seventh-place finish.
An impromptu Notre Dame victory celebration was well under way Saturday as Bryan Lerg and Chris Mueller stood in the bowels of World Arena following MSU’s 3-1 loss to Notre Dame.
Colorado Springs, Colo. — In the NCAA Tournament projections, it looked like if MSU was going to play a CCHA team with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line, it would be Michigan. Instead, MSU will be facing Notre Dame, a team fresh off an upset of No. 1 seed New Hampshire, at 10 p.m. Saturday.
Colorado Springs, Colo. — In seven career NCAA Tournament games, junior goaltender Jeff Lerg has allowed only 11 goals. Take out the five he allowed against Maine in 2006, MSU’s only NCAA Tournament loss in the last three seasons, and the number becomes staggering – six goals in six games.
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Six-thousand feet and 6,000 screaming fans didn’t bother the MSU hockey team one bit. With three second period goals, the No. 3 seed Spartans stopped highly-favored Colorado College, 3-1, in the NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinal Friday night at World Arena.
Houston – The last thing Drew Neitzel did as a Spartan was shoot a 3-pointer. The senior guard took a pass, stepped back a few feet from behind the arc and let it fly. Nothing but net. Coming 20-point performances in three of his last four games, Neitzel had just six points – with seven assists – in his last MSU game. After a season in which Neitzel admitted to being a bit scatterbrained, he ended with a strong postseason and now looks to the future. “It’s tough,” he said.
Houston – Like a flash, it was gone. The Spartans were dismantled in the first 20 minutes of their NCAA Tournament regional semifinal against Memphis in Houston on Friday, and found themselves in a hole they couldn’t climb out of – eventually losing, 92-74. MSU was picked apart like they hadn’t been all season in a first half that likened itself to a 16-seed versus a one-seed rather than a 5-seed picked to have a chance at upsetting a top team in the country.
It turned out to be a battle to see which team could launch fewer bricks. The MSU women’s basketball team skidded by Kansas, 58-54, Thursday night at Breslin Center, shooting 34.5 percent from the field.
As soon as Detroit was announced as a site for this weekend’s NCAA Tournament basketball games, MSU alumnus DeArron Easley knew he had to go. “I decided to go to the games at Ford Field because I am a basketball nut who loves this time of year,” he said.
Through Kalin Lucas’ eyes, tonight’s game against Memphis will look more like the Kentucky Derby than the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. The freshman guard said the fans who make their way to Reliant Stadium at 10 p.m. in Houston are in store for a lightning-quick, up-and-down basketball game between two teams that strive to run a blazing fast-break offense.
The defending national champions aren’t supposed to be a large underdog entering the NCAA Tournament.But considering the circumstances surrounding the MSU hockey team’s West Regional semifinal game against Colorado College tonight, it’s difficult to call the Spartans a favorite. First, there’s what should be a raucous crowd at World Arena, where the host Tigers are 18-2-0 this season. Add in an Olympic-size ice sheet and elevation in excess of 6,000 feet and the odds seemed to be stacked against the Spartans.
At 7 a.m. Monday morning, junior guard Travis Walton busted into roommate junior center Goran Suton’s bedroom with his butt down, head up, on the balls of his feet — chopping his legs back and forth to symbolize his defensive stance.
The MSU hockey team has a tall task ahead as it faces Colorado College at 10 p.m. tonight in the NCAA Tournament’s West Regional semifinal at World Arena.
For all that has been said about Tom Izzo’s basketball teams playing like football players and his notorious “war drill” that features football pads, it’s only appropriate that the Spartans will play their Sweet 16 game in a football stadium this weekend.
Despite an injury and two straight losses, the MSU gymnastics team is optimistic about Saturday’s Big Ten Tournament in Ann Arbor.
The snow had melted, the grass was green and it was a perfect day to open a new baseball season Wednesday at Kobs Field. Too bad the MSU baseball team forgot to come out of hibernation. The Spartans fell to Eastern Michigan 10-3 in their home opener, losing to a team that came into the contest with a 1-17 record.
Mother Nature won’t be very nice to the MSU softball team this weekend in its home opener, but that doesn’t bother the players. A chilly, rainy and snowy weekend is forecast throughout the team’s Friday and Saturday series against Minnesota and double-header against Wisconsin on Sunday.
It may not be the national championship they originally wanted, but it’s the one they are on track to receive.