Thursday, April 18, 2024

Sports

SPORTS

Young team not ready for NCAA, WNIT better for future

Not making the NCAA Tournament is not the worst thing for the Spartans. In fact, it may be the best thing for the young team. The Women’s National Invitational Tournament is giving MSU another shot at postseason experience, allowing the Spartans to prove they will be a dominant team in the future. Assuming the Spartans (16-12) had made the NCAA Tournament, they would have received a low seed.

SPORTS

Breaking down bracketology

For many people, this is the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is second. And a distant second at that. March Madness is the time of year when basketball fans, gambleaholics and the like get together and fill out their NCAA Tournament brackets. These people predict the winners of 64 games (play-in game, 32 first-round games, 16 second-round games, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four and championship game) in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and submit them to their respective pools.

BASKETBALL

Manager ready for first tourney

Justin A. Rice
March 14, 2002

Friday’s first round NCAA Tournament matchup with North Carolina State will be a first for several Spartans. The inexperienced freshmen trio of Alan Anderson, Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert have raised questions about whether the youthful MSU men’s basketball team can handle the added pressures of March Madness.

ICE HOCKEY

Miller misses award

James Jahnke
March 14, 2002

Junior goaltender Ryan Miller found out Tuesday he missed the cut for the 72nd annual Sullivan Award - the highest honor for an amateur athlete in the nation.Miller, who is widely regarded as the best collegiate goalie in the nation, was one of 14 semifinalists for the Amateur Athletic Union’s Sullivan Award, but he wasn’t included in the list of five finalists released this week.The five finalists are: Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, former Southern Cal pitcher Mark Prior, world champion gymnast Sean Townsend, high school track star Alan Webb, and California swimmer Natalie Coughlin.

BASKETBALL

Wolfpack defense looks to harass U

Dan Woike
March 14, 2002

If what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, the Spartan men’s basketball team can find strength in its loss to Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament last Friday. The Spartans (19-11) came out lethargic and couldn’t match the Hoosiers’ high intensity.

SPORTS

U runners reap honors

Ryan Wallace
March 13, 2002

While MSU students were enjoying their spring break, two Spartan athletes were busy becoming All-Americans. Senior Paul Terek and sophomore Steve Sherer competed in the 2002 NCAA Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend. For Terek, this was the second year in a row he took home All-America honors for the pole vault.

ICE HOCKEY

Junior lends talents to multiple positions for Spartans

James Jahnke
March 13, 2002

Utility players are a rarity in hockey.The capable-at-all-positions players are better known in baseball, where fielding principles from second base to left field are similar.Hockey generally doesn’t lend itself to position-hopping, partly because players are taught to station themselves on the ice for offensive attacking and defensive coverage based on their assigned position.But don’t tell MSU junior forward Troy Ferguson there’s no place for a jack-of-all-trades in hockey.

SPORTS

U will host first round of WNIT

Chris Mackinder
March 12, 2002

The MSU women’s basketball team’s season will continue following an invitation into the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. After being denied an NCAA berth, the Spartans (16-12) were invited to host the first round of the WNIT.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans reap CCHA honors over break

James Jahnke
March 12, 2002

Plenty of Spartans were honored by the CCHA during spring break, including junior goaltender Ryan Miller and junior defenseman John-Michael Liles making the All-CCHA first team. Miller leads the CCHA with a 1.75 goals against average, .937 saves percentage, 25 wins and eight shutouts.

BASKETBALL

Intensity in question for tournament

Justin A. Rice
March 11, 2002

Despite an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, the MSU men’s basketball team heads into the NCAA Tournament with its finger on its biggest problem - intensity.The question will be, “Can the Spartans pick up the intensity after losing to Indiana in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament?”That same question was MSU head coach Tom Izzo’s biggest concern heading into the Big Ten Tournament.

BASKETBALL

East bracket breakdown

A very critical factor in a team’s success during the NCAA Tournament can be who you play. And with a shocking upset just around the corner, anything is possible. Let’s take a look at the other teams in the bottom half of the East regional bracket. First round opponent: No.

SPORTS

Wrestlers place eighth

Andrew Fifer
March 11, 2002

The wrestling team (5-12, 2-6) finished eighth with 54.5 points in the 2002 Big Ten Wrestling Championships hosted by Illinois. The Spartans were led by juniors Rashad Evans and Gray Maynard, who each placed fourth.

ICE HOCKEY

Enforcer Maloney out for season

James Jahnke
March 11, 2002

Brian Maloney is as tough as anyone on the Spartan hockey team.The junior left wing from Bassano, Alberta is MSU’s enforcer on the ice - methodically antagonizing the other team and administering bone-rattling body checks.