There are only 6 games of importance to Spartan Nation:

Game 1: Mississippi State. MSU South is a fraud.
Winner: MSU

Game 2: North Carolina.
Can you say overrated?
Winner: MSU

Sweet 16
Game 3: Alabama.
Nick Saban retired.
Winner: MSU

Game 4: Baylor
MSU beat Baylor already
Winner: MSU

Final Four
Game 5: Iowa State.
A replay of the 2000 tournament.
Winner: MSU

National Championship Game
Game 6: Tennessee
A replay of the exhibition game. Different result

MSU 88
Tennessee 80

Ok, I'm 1 for 25 in picking the NCAA Basketball Tournament

I don’t know why I didn’t see that coming.
Will that loss cost em the 1 seed?

I have been as critical as anyone on the inconsistent play, the lack of post presence, lack of toughness, etc. of this team. Today I saw a team that showed toughness and a no quit mentality (unfortunately they can’t control the terrible officiating ). The bigs came to play, but were basically handcuffed by some of the worst officiating imaginable. We still struggled to hit shots, but I just ‘gotta feeling’ that the shooters are going to get hot, and with the toughness I saw today, along with the expanded role of Booker, MSU is going to make a run.

It does come down to matchups, but I see a run in the cards.

Go Green!

There were several bid stealers on Saturday.

- NC State
- New Mexico
- Oregon

Plus, there will be two more on Sunday:

- AAC champ (Temple/UAB)
- A10 champ (Duquesne/VCU)

This is a jam-packed bubble.

From my understanding, these 11 teams are fighting over five spots:

- Colorado
- FAU
- Indiana State
- Michigan State
- Oklahoma
- Pitt
- Providence
- Seton Hall
- St. John's
- Texas A&M
- Virginia

What's it going to take for Michigan State to get in? Resume comparisons, head-to-head comparisons (MSU owns a win over ISU), NET, etc.

If MSU makes it in, the first four is most likely the destination for the Spartans.

This is getting more nervy than I thought it would be when MSU lost to Purdue on Friday.

Postgame reaction from Nightingale, Nienhuis and Augustine + what went down at Munn on Saturday night.

Also, a pregame message from Hockey Hall of Famer and 16-time NHL All-Star Mark Messier to Nash Nienhuis.

My story from an electric Munn Ice Arena:

Now I am getting nervous. These upsets put us at risk of missing out.

Need a Colorado win.

Michigan State Hockey coach Adam Nightingale, goaltender Trey Augustine and defenseman Nash Nienhuis speak at the postgame press conference after the Spartans 2-1 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.

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I’m here at Munn Ice Arena. Big Ten Tournament semifinals tonight between Michigan State & Ohio State. Puck drop set for 6:30 p.m. on BTN.

Should be a fun atmosphere tonight.

Michigan State hasn’t played in two weeks since the Spartans split a road series with Wisconsin to seal the Big Ten regular season title.

Ohio State won its quarterfinal series against Wisconsin on the road two games to one.

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….In the Big Ten, I would pick Nebraska and Northwestern as the biggest upside surprises?
Your thoughts?

Michigan State will host class of 2025 three-star strong-side defensive end/defensive tackle Floyd Boucard for an official visit during the weekend of June 7 through June 9.

Boucard received an offer from the Spartans on Feb. 9 and has been in close communication with Michigan State general manager Cole Moore ever since.

"The way the coaches approached me (stands out)," Boucard said about Michigan State. "I don’t know if it was just different than other coaches, but they make you feel special, but at the same time, they keep it in a humble fashion. They're not going to boost you up (too much before you've proven anything)."

Boucard details his journey from Canada to the United States, and discusses his interest in MSU, here:

AJ HOGGARD! 6-6 FG, 4-4 Free Throws, dagger 3-pointer, six assists, one steal, one block. Great floor game against one of the better PGs in the country in Hawkins. And AJ is now in 6th Place as he passes Drew Neitzel in All-time assists 587-582. Login to view embedded media

Three newcomers to watch as Michigan State gets set to open 2024 spring camp on Tuesday, March 19.

Three storylines to watch as Michigan State gets set to open 2024 spring camp on Tuesday, March 19.

Full game recap from Michigan State's Big Ten Tournament victory over Minnesota here:

Quarterfinal Friday in the Big Ten Tournament!

Michigan State (19-13, 10-10) will take on the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers (28-3, 17-3) from Minneapolis.

Purdue won the regular season matchup earlier this month 80-74.

Tip off is at approximately Noon ET on Big Ten Network.

The only outlets that made their way to Minneapolis and to the locker room after the game were Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Lansing State Journal, MLive, and Spartans Illustrated.

It was interesting to see no Michigan television cameras at the game today. Only WLNS was there yesterday but no sign of them today.

We were the only one with video content of Izzo's postgame media scrum. He had some interesting comments and here it is, in two parts, in a Spartans Illustrated exclusive, for subscribers only:

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“The adversity made us stronger,” Nick Samac explained after MSU’s pro day on Wednesday. “It grew us together as a team. The best teams are the player-led teams, and I think that we had to step up to become a player-led team.”

More from Samac and Duplain after Michigan State's pro day on Wednesday:

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NICK SABAN SPEAKS ON CAPITOL HILL ON THE CURRENT STATE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL and ON NAME, IMAGE, AND LIKENESS.

(6:41 minutes long). Basically, kids want to get paid now. They're not there for personal growth or development, academics, team goals, or future job prospects after football, and how to get there. They just want a bag up front. Give it a listen.

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Nebraska is still looking for a new President of its university system after Ted Carter left so is in a poor position to start an AD search. Some rumors seem to suggest there's some underlying issues Alberts has in the politicking aspect of the job in Lincoln, and on top of that, a swath of Husker fans have always hated him for pulling the plug on football and wrestling at UNO when he was AD there.

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Steve Mariucci was sitting in the back row on the press conference watching his friend Tom Izzo at the podium.

Spartans Illustrated caught up with the former NFL coach to get his thoughts about Michigan State's win and tomorrow's game against Purdue.

via @DavidHarns

The No. 8-seeded Michigan State Spartans take on the No. 1-seeded Purdue Boilermakers in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Friday at noon Eastern Time.

Check out the matchup preview here, via @CarterElliott: