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 — Brian Conklin has a hard time calling anything an upset anymore. Likely a new name to MSU basketball fans, Conklin is a senior forward averaging 14 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for No. 9-seed Saint Louis, who the Spartans (28-7) play at about 2:45 p.m. Sunday in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
After answering questions at the podium, Taylor Alton, with tears in her eyes, returned to the locker room and sat next to fellow senior forward Lykendra Johnson. It was the final time the duo would wear their MSU jerseys, and as Alton sat in her chair, emotionally drained from the afternoon, her fellow captain put her arm around her and the two rocked back and forth, talking of their time at MSU.
College Park, Md. — Just hours after their season ended with a 67-55 loss to No. 7 seed Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the MSU women’s basketball team already is looking ahead to next season. Although the 2011-2012 campaign is now in the books, freshman center Jasmine Hines said she felt that because the Spartans refused to quit during the loss, they had laid a good framework to build on in preparation for next season. “We’re all competitors,” Hines said.
Columbus, Ohio — A lot of talk in Saturday’s press conference was on the disappearance of centers in the game of basketball.
As Tom Izzo readies to attempt another deep NCAA Tournament run, the praise of the MSU men’s basketball head coach’s March success is coming out yet again.
For possibly the first time all season, the men’s basketball team’s center duo of Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne were on in the same game in Friday’s 89-67 win against LIU Brooklyn.
Columbus, Ohio — The home of Ohio State is almost painted green this week. With St. Patrick’s Day weekend and the MSU men’s basketball team in town for the NCAA Tournament, seemingly everyone has a touch of green to their outfits.
The madness has arrived. This weekend, the No. 10-seed MSU women’s basketball team (20-11) will open the first round of the NCAA Tournament against No. 7-seed Louisville (22-9) on Saturday (1:45 p.m., ESPN2) in College Park, Md.
Brandon Wood hasn’t always had it this good. Now a senior guard with the MSU men’s basketball team, it wasn’t long ago that Wood was playing at mid-major schools and community colleges.
As 15 former Spartans worked out before 52 NFL representatives to prove their worth in the upcoming NFL Draft at MSU’s Pro Day on Wednesday, they also helped to prove the worth of MSU football.
When looking at the MSU softball team’s record (7-15) the initial impulse is to assume the team isn’t very good. But the Spartans have gone through a grueling preseason that head coach Jacquie Joseph touts as the toughest in the country and said, as a result, the team’s record is deceiving.
As the MSU and Cincinnati men’s basketball teams prepare for the end of their season in the NCAA Tournament, the seasons of its respective baseball programs are just starting to come together. The Spartans (7-7) are looking for their bats to heat up and create a little March Madness this weekend in a three-game road series with the Bearcats (8-6) at Marge Schott Stadium in Cincinnati.
After the MSU gymnastics team jumped from No. 44 to No. 28 in the Regional Qualifying Score, or RQS, rankings this past week, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Spartans got complacent and fell off a bit in their final meet of the season. But head coach Kathie Klages doesn’t think getting her team to stay focused will be an issue, considering the competition her gymnasts are up against this week.
With session one of the NCAA Tournament in the books, three of the six Spartans that made the trip to St. Louis have kept their championship dreams alive.
After he transferred to MSU from Oklahoma following his freshman year of college, Keith Nichol always has been out to prove himself. Coming in as a quarterback, Nichol saw his playing time quickly evaporate in favor of Kirk Cousins.
It surprised few when Jerel Worthy decided to forgo his senior season and declare for the 2012 NFL Draft. Sitting next to MSU head coach Mark Dantonio at the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center in January, the first team All-American junior defensive tackle came to the decision to leave following MSU’s 33-30 triple overtime victory against Georgia in the 2012 Outback Bowl.
If there’s one thing about Kirk Cousins that stands out above all the rest, it’s the way he leads his team. So then it should come as no surprise that during MSU’s Pro Day at Duffy Daugherty Football Building on Wednesday, the former Spartan quarterback found a way to showcase his leadership before representatives from 32 NFL teams.
With only the NCAA Tournament remaining — starting Thursday and continuing through the weekend in St. Louis — six members of the MSU wrestling team will have one final opportunity to end their seasons on a high note.
When Branden Dawson went down with a season-ending knee injury in the MSU men’s basketball team’s regular season finale a week and a half ago, the Spartans didn’t have much time to adjust. Four days later, MSU traveled to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament without the freshman guard — who started all 31 games before tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in a 72-70 loss to Ohio State.