Tim Hearon is ready to close the book on his hockey career - one year earlier than most people expected.The versatile junior forward from Southgate decided last month to skip his senior season, choosing instead to take his finance degree into the real world.
Snell stands ahead Freshman defensive specialist Kristy Snell is MSU's latest Freshman Student-Athlete of the Year.
Kris Koski's senior season has been filled with uncertainty.Sometimes he plays forward in practice, sometimes he plays defense.
The Big Ten Tournament is six years old this season, but MSU head coach Tom Izzo isn't convinced its growing pains are done. As the men's basketball team prepares for this weekend's tournament in Chicago, Izzo said Monday the Big Ten Tournament is, at best, a mixed blessing for players and coaches as they prepare for the NCAA Tournament the following week. Izzo said the revenue and exposure the conference generates for Big Ten programs is a positive, but the "one and done" philosophy surrounding the Big Ten Tournament isn't the best representative of a season of hard work. "All you harp on all season is playing 40 minutes," Izzo said.
Golfers in the midst of 3-day tournament The MSU women's golf team is competing in its third tournament of the spring season at the 31st annual SunTrust Gator Gold Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.
Columbus, Ohio - Tired of riding the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Spartans knew a road win at Ohio State on Saturday would nearly solidify their postseason hopes. So they took care of business. They defeated the Buckeyes 72-58 at Value City Arena and now look ahead to the Big Ten Tournament - and beyond. "I do believe we deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament right now," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said, following the regular season-ending victory.
Columbus, Ohio - Senior forward Adam Ballinger is certainly picking a convenient time to heat up. After drudging through a season laden with shooting slumps and abandoned expectations, he has come alive for MSU the past two contests.
A couple of seniors ran out of gas on the road to seizing Big Ten titles for the MSU wrestling team.Nik Fekete, No.
The Nanooks are coming to town.After sweeping Western Michigan this weekend to close out the regular season, the MSU hockey team earned a first-round CCHA Tournament matchup with ninth-place Alaska-Fairbanks starting Friday at Munn Ice Arena.It's been quite a turnaround for the Spartans (21-13-2 overall, 17-10-1 CCHA), who bottomed out at 10th place in the league in early January.
Forget Enron, WorldCom and Washington, D.C. The real crooks are in college basketball. From NCAA suspensions, violations and infractions to Sunday's Duke-North Carolina late-game fracas, the Division I-A ranks of men's hoops are sporting an ugly black eye of corruption this year.
Indianapolis - Through 27 games this season, the MSU women's basketball team was only familiar with the winning end of blowouts. But Ohio State introduced the Spartans (17-11) to the losing end with a 71-55 thumping Friday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. After MSU head coach Joanne P.
Kalamazoo - The MSU hockey team is 2-for-2 in terms of spoiling opponents' senior nights this season.A week after the Spartans pounded Michigan 4-0 on its senior night, MSU sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio shut out Western Michigan by the same score in the Broncos' last game of the season at Lawson Arena.The Spartans (20-13-2 overall, 16-10-1 CCHA) used three first period goals to dispose of the Broncos (15-18-2, 13-13-1) on Friday.
The MSU hockey team's seven departing players played well on Senior Night, but a pair of sophomores upstaged all of them in the Spartans' regular-season finale. Second-year center Jim Slater, who has been battling a shoulder injury, scored a goal in each period for his first career hat trick Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena.
Columbus, Ohio - The Buckeyes turned into just another victim for the Spartans on Saturday afternoon. MSU dominated Ohio State for most of the game, and despite some defensive lapses, picked up the 72-58 victory at Value City Arena.
Two things are on the Spartans' minds as they wrap up their regular season against Western Michigan this weekend - to get on a roll heading into the playoffs and to honor their seven departing teammates.MSU (19-13-2 overall, 15-10-1 CCHA) and the Broncos (15-17-2, 13-12-1) play Friday at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo and Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.
He had saved his best game for last, was mobbed by his teammates for the second time this season and kissed the green and white "S" at midcourt for good measure. On a senior night that saw four MSU seniors bid the regular-season hardwood at Breslin Center goodbye, senior forward Adam Ballinger shrugged off the criticism of a lackluster season and led the Spartans to a masterful 82-54 win over Iowa on Wednesday. Ballinger, who set career highs in points (22) and field goals (9, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range), set the tone for MSU's (17-11 overall, 8-6 Big Ten) game-winning 16-0 run to open the game. Ballinger and the Spartans never looked back. "The guys did a good job of getting me going," Ballinger said after the game, "Things just flowed.
On the third day of the third month in the third year of this century, No. 3 on the MSU men's basketball team announced this season, his third playing, would be his last. Junior forward Adam Wolfe announced Monday he is "99 percent" sure he will forego his final season of eligibility and leave the team following the completion of this season. Though Wolfe made the announcement abruptly, the decision is not entirely shocking.
Detroit - When the MSU hockey team smacked No. 8 Michigan 4-0 on Friday night, almost every bounce of the puck went its way. But the Spartans'puck luck ran out in Saturday's rematch at Joe Louis Arena. U-M head coach Red Berenson notched his 500th career win with a 5-4 victory infront of 20,058 fans. "You know me, it's not a big thing until it's all over," Berenson said of his milestone mark.
Another must-win situation turned into a Spartan victory. The Spartans recovered from a sloppy first half and a lousy start to the second half to defeat the Purdue 69-61 Saturday afternoon at Breslin Center. "It was a strange game - game where there wasn't a lot of flow to it," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.
Tomorrow is the first day of March, which means the madness of college basketball is almost upon us. During a three-week span (perfect for hoops junkies), reputations are built, hearts are broken and legends are made. This is by far the greatest sporting event of them all.