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.
The Spartans are inching closer and closer to the NCAA Tournament. But the road leading to the first round still has sharp turns.
MSU is walking into a win-lose situation heading into tonight's matchup with Minnesota. Win and keep hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth alive; lose and consider its dance card lost in the mail.A loss at the Breslin Center tonight for the Spartans (14-11 overall, 6-6 Big Ten) could be catastrophic and running the table in the Big Ten Tournament might be the Spartans only hope for reaching the NCAA Tournament.The Golden Gophers, on the other hand, are looking to steal a conference game on the road to keep their own tourney hopes afloat.Minnesota (16-7, 8-4) strung several lopsided runs together en route to a 77-69 win in January when the teams met at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
He's the floor general, the basketball version of a quarterback, and the leader - the point guard.
The Spartans' bubble is close to bursting. After losing their 11th game of the season to No.
Sophomore guard Chris Hill delivered a dynamite performance Sunday afternoon, but the rest of his teammates dropped the bomb. The Spartans couldn't take advantage of Hill's spectacular 34-point game, falling in a 76-75 thriller. Hill set a Big Ten record with 10 3-pointers en route to his career-high 34 points.
When the Spartans are struggling, one medicine always seems to provide the cure - Breslin Center. It's no secret MSU has struggled on the road this year (1-6 in the Big Ten and 3-9 overall). But playing in front of the 14,759 home fans, including the boisterous Izzone has been the answer to the road woes. Aside from one home blemish - an 81-76 defeat to Toledo on Dec.
Champaign, Ill. - Head coach Tom Izzo can only wish Illinois freshman guard Dee Brown signed with MSU. Izzo recruited Brown last year as a backup point guard for former Spartan Marcus Taylor.
Plain and simple, the Big Ten picture is cloudy. It wasn't particularly sunny in the preseason, but three teams were supposed to vie for the conference crown: MSU, Indiana and Illinois. With three weeks left in the season, not one of those teams are leading the Big Ten.
This season, the MSU men's basketball team is in the middle of a personality crisis: Goliath at home and David on the road. The Spartans (14-9 overall, 6-5 Big Ten) are relatively dominant at Breslin Center, boasting a 10-1 record this season - 5-0 in the Big Ten.
If basketball had three stars of the game like hockey, Kelvin Torbert would have been the undisputed first star Saturday.The sophomore guard scored a career-high 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting in MSU's 64-51 win over Northwestern.
Staggering into the Big Ten season with back-to-back losses has forced the Spartans to dance on the NCAA Tournament bubble much of the season. And in just over a month - on March 16, to be exact - the field of 65 will be released.
In MSU's 64-53 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday, the Badger defense had an answer for every Spartan offensive option - except freshman forward Erazem Lorbek.
If it doesn't concern tonight's game at Wisconsin, the MSU men's basketball team is lending only a deaf ear and a blind eye.The Spartans (13-8 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) have won three straight games, putting them two games out of the conference lead and in a fifth-place tie with Minnesota.But MSU head coach Tom Izzo said forecasting later games is useless in light of the Spartans' lackluster Big Ten start."If we get this one, I guess we'd be somewhat back in the race," Izzo said.
The MSU men's basketball team had only one game since last week's polls came out, but the Spartans didn't get any respect after a 67-62 overtime victory against Indiana on Saturday. Voters in The Associated Press Top 25 poll obviously weren't impressed with the Spartans' (13-8 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) road win, nor their three-game winning streak as MSU actually lost 20 votes in the poll. The Spartans received only 11 votes, just one week after picking up 31.
Bloomington, Ind. - As usual, Alan Anderson wanted to be the Spartans' leader and help his team to victory. Saturday night, the sophomore forward did just that.
The MSU men's basketball team's quest for its first conference road win continues Saturday when it ventures to Indiana to take on the struggling Hoosiers. The Spartans have failed in four previous tasks to bring home a conference road win.
The game is going down to the wire, the clock is ticking down like a sluggish metronome and only a 3-pointer can tie the game. Who gets the ball? If the MSU men's basketball team is the squad in need of a trey, then the ball is likely to end up in the hands of sophomore guard Chris Hill, MSU's deadliest and most consistent 3-point threat. Hill has made his career as a Spartan by banking on his long range shot.
Adam Ballinger dug himself a mountain-sized crevasse to climb out of.But in wins against then-No.
In the thick of the Big Ten season, the MSU men's basketball team finds itself living an anomaly - downtime during conference play. The Spartans (12-8 overall, 4-4 Big Ten) knocked off two ranked opponents (now-unranked Indiana and No.