BASKETBALL
Underdog Spartans adjust to new role
Washington - The MSU men’s basketball team arrived for a 12:15 p.m. practice Thursday at the MCI Center, but something was missing.
BASEBALL
Sluggers keep rolling
The baseball team (9-2) will travel to Richmond, Ky., to take on Eastern Kentucky (2-8) in a three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday.
SPORTS
Spartans ready for Blue Demons
The Spartans have the chance to play in the postseason. And they are prepared to make the best of their opportunity. MSU (16-12) will try to extend its season at 7 p.m.
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
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
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
Too many variable to predict NCAA Tournament earnings
The more Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament, the more money each school receives. This year’s tournament has five Big Ten teams.
BASKETBALL
Wolfpack defense looks to harass U
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.
BASKETBALL
No. 10 seeds find steady success in tourney
If everything went as planned in the men’s basketball NCAA Tournament, all four No.
FOOTBALL
Duckett headlines Spartans on display for NFL scouts
Under the watchful eye of NFL scouts, the “Diesel” proved he has the power and speed to play in the NFL. Tuesday was MSU’s NFL Pro Day at the Duffy Daugherty Football Building, and junior running back T.J.
SPORTS
U runners reap honors
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
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.
BASKETBALL
Students go great lengths for tickets
The resiliency of the men’s basketball team has spread to its fans. Finance senior Ken Wink won’t let 588 miles and a nine to 10-hour drive separate him from the Spartans first-round matchup in Washington, D.C.
SPORTS
U will host first round of WNIT
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
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.
SPORTS
Coaches shouldnt deal with nonconference scheduling
MSU men’s head basketball coach Tom Izzo’s weekly roundtable with the media turned into an open forum Monday - a day after the Spartans earned a No.
BASKETBALL
Izzo upset with No. 10 seed in tourney
As he learned his team would play as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo smiled sarcastically Sunday.
BASKETBALL
Intensity in question for tournament
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.