No. 9-seeded Michigan State and No. 1 North Carolina will tip off at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday. The game will broadcast on CBS.

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Had his shorts on backward to start the game today…… Login to view embedded media
Hoggard a bit nervous today?

AJ played excellent defense, scored eight points, and had eight assists. Those eight assists push him over the 600 mark for his career, from 597 to 605, and he passes Eric Snow on the assist list, who had 599. Hoggard moves from Sixth to Fifth on the All-Time assist leaders and is only one of five Spartans with 600 assists.

NEW MSU ASSIST LEADERS LIST:

1. Cassius Winston: 890
2. Mateen Cleaves: 816
3. Scott Skiles: 645
4. Denzel Valentine: 639
5. AJ Hoggard: 605
6. Eric Snow: 599
7. Drew Neitzel: 582
8. Mark Montgomery: 561
9. Kalin Lucas: 558
10. Travis Walton: 555
11. Magic Johnson: 491 (2-years)
12. Keith Appling: 465
13. Steve Smith: 453
14. Draymond Green: 425
15. TumTum Nairn: 415
16. Travis Trice: 387
17. Charlie Bell: 371
18. Kevin Smith: 349
19. Terry Donnelly: 321
20. Sam Vincent: 306
21. Shawn Respert: 301

MARCH MADNESS IS HERE! WIN OR GO HOME!

9-seed Michigan State kicks off the first round as the Spartans take on 8-seed Mississippi State in Charlotte, NC.

Tip off is set for 12:15 p.m. on CBS.

Representing Spartans Illustrated down at the Spectrum Center will be @KLuce98 and @SydneyPadgett.

In the mean time, drop your score predictions.

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Michigan State advances in NCAA Tournament, downs Mississippi State 69-51​

Full game recap:

@verbose dutch breaks down everything you need to know about Mississippi State, Michigan State's first opponent in the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 9-seeded Spartans and No. 8-seeded Bulldogs tip off at 12:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday.

Our resident basketball experts — @CarterElliott and @SpartanHoops_DK — provide their thoughts on Michigan State's NCAA Tournament chances here. DK and Carter have a good conversation about the Spartans and provide thorough analysis. Be sure to read!

Thanks, @Kevin Thomas, for reminding of this moment in history.

I do not like this, personally. The younger players can get more work; for instance, if MSU played in the NIT, I would have been all for Booker and Carr and the younger bigs getting more time. NIT has a rich tradition.

Dannen has only been at UW for about five months, replacing the prior AD who was hired away by USC. Huskies have to go into the Big Ten with a new head football coach, new head men's basketball coach, and a second new AD in less than a year.

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A linebacker prospect who Michigan State fans may want to keep a close eye on is Grant Beerman, a four-star prospect out of Ohio. The Lakota West High School star took a visit to MSU on Tuesday to check out the Spartans' first spring practice of 2024.

This was the second visit to Michigan State for Beerman, as he also made it to East Lansing on Feb. 3 for a junior day visit. Additionally, Beerman has already scheduled an official visit with MSU from June 14 through June 16.

As for Tuesday's trip, Beerman was able to get a close look at how the Spartans run their practices under head coach Jonathan Smith, defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Joe Rossi and the rest of the coaching staff.

"The visit was very personalized, as there were only a small number of recruits there on Tuesday, so I spent a lot of time with the coaches throughout practice and during the meetings," Beerman explained. "During each step, they would walk me through what was taking place, and point out things they wanted me to see.

"But I also had a chance to break down practice film one-on-one with Coach Rossi following practice. He was able to show me where I would fit in on the defense, and things he felt I would be able to help with, while walking through various film from earlier in the day."

Much more here:

@Sam Tyler - TillTheBitterEnd is picking Michigan State to make a run to the Final Four.

He explains why:

Michigan State DL Maverick Hansen on the new staff in East Lansing:

“I think everyone in here wants to win, wants to take this place to the next level."

More from Hansen after the Spartans opened spring practice this morning:

Michigan State wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr. enters his fifth year in East Lansing with a new number and a renewed sense of energy. He will wear No. 3 on his jersey in 2024 after wearing No. 83 during his four first seasons at MSU.

Foster, who opted to return to MSU for his final season of college eligibility, is looking to take on more of a leadership role as a fifth-year senior. He'll need to do so not only in the wide receivers room, with the departure of team leader Tre Mosley (who is pursuing the NFL Draft), but for the team as a whole.

He also has a great opportunity to be the Spartans' No. 1 wide receiver in 2024. In fact, Foster lead Michigan State in receptions with 43 and receiving yards with 576 in 2023, while also tying for the team-lead in touchdown catches last season with three. All of those numbers were career-highs for the Ohio native.

In 40 career games played, Foster has recorded 60 receptions for 816 yards (13.6 yards per catch) and five touchdowns.

He is looking forward to being one of the top targets in the passing game, but Foster is most excited about being able to help his teammates along in their progression.

"It's very exciting," Foster said on Tuesday when asked about having an opportunity to make plays for his team in 2024. "I just can't wait to bring everybody up together, for sure. And just being more of a vocal leader, too, that's kind of my role this year. I just can't wait to do that."

So why did Foster decide to return to Michigan State in 2024? After a disappointing 2023 campaign that saw the Spartans go 4-8 under the previous regime, Foster didn't feel like the job was finished.

"I just really wasn't satisfied with last season," Foster said when asked why he chose to return to East Lansing for a fifth season. "Going through that, I didn't want to leave the fans and definitely the town of East Lansing — I love it here, my family loves it here, they come to the games all the time — so I didn't want to leave this special place, it's really special to my heart, and that's really why I came back.

Much more from Foster here:

It has been a wild week for me on the personal side, but I am happy to present part one of my annual bracket breakdown. This is more of an overview and appetizer to the main course that is coming soon.

My initial takeaway? Don’t expect quite as many upsets as in the last three years. Check out the full details here:

Michigan defensive line coach Greg Scruggs was arrested for allegedly operating a vehicle while intoxicated early Saturday morning in Ann Arbor.

Scruggs, 33, recently joined first-year Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore’s staff.

“I can confirm he was arrested for OWI by our department just before 3 a.m.,” Chris Page, strategic communications manager for the Ann Arbor Police Department, sent in a text to The Detroit News on Saturday.

The 2026 class ranking has been expanded from 100 players to a full Rivals250: https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals250/2026

Ten highest debuts: https://n.rivals.com/news/rivals-rankings-week-ten-highest-ranked-debuts-in-the-rivals250

Adam Gorney goes position-by-position: https://n.rivals.com/news/tuesdays-with-gorney-new-2026-rivals250-released

“Players have some tournament experience, the coaches have some tournament experience. I think we have potential to have great guard play."

MSU head coach Tom Izzo met with the media on Monday and touched on how he feels about his team heading into Thursday’s matchup, provided his thoughts on Mississippi State, and more:

Michigan State Hockey is racking up the postseason awards.

Freshman defenseman Artyom Levshunov was named 1st-Team All-Big Ten. He also took home Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.

Levshunov alongside freshman goaltender Trey Augustine both made the All-Freshman team as well. Augustine was 2nd-Team All-Big Ten.

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Head coach Adam Nightingale is the consensus Big Ten Coach of the Year

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Joey Larson, Karsen Dorwart and Isaac Howard took home All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.

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The team's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award went to Nicolas Müller.

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We lack a take charge guard and it is key to a deep run. Examples are Shannon Jr. and Chucky Hepburn. They wanted the ball and pretty much pushed their team to victory. The last time we had that type was Cassius.
Our guards are adequate but I can’t compare Hoggard or Akins to them. Tyson could be that player but he appears to me to be a little tentative and his recent stats prove the point.
If we are going to make any kind of a run, Tyson will have to be the one. Your thoughts?
I

"KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NABC has announced the 2023-24 NABC Division I All-District Teams and District Coaches of the Year. The All-District honors are voted on by NABC-member coaches across NCAA Division I."

District 7

First Team

Boo Buie – Northwestern

Zach Edey – Purdue

Terrence Shannon Jr. – Illinois

Tyson Walker – Michigan State

Jahmir Young – Maryland



Second Team

Ace Baldwin Jr. – Penn State

Marcus Domask – Illinois

Dawson Garcia – Minnesota

Braden Smith – Purdue

AJ Storr – Wisconsin



Coach of the Year: Fred Hoiberg – Nebraska

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