Michigan State Spartans
From Hoopedia
Michigan State University (MSU) is a co-educational public research university in East Lansing, Michigan USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.
Following the introduction of the Morrill Act, the college became coeducational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture. After World War II, the number of students tripled as the institution became a major university. Today, MSU is the eighth-largest university in the United States, with 46,045 students and 2,954 faculty members.
MSU's NCAA Division I sports teams are called the Spartans. They compete in the Big Ten Conference. Its men's basketball team won the national championship in 1979 and 2000.
The Jack Breslin Student Events Center is home to the men and women's basketball teams.
Men's Basketball
MSU's men's basketball team has won the National Championship twice: in 1979 and again in 2000. In 1979, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, along with Greg Kelser, Jay Vincent, and Mike Brkovich, led the MSU team to a 75-64 win against the Larry Bird-led Indiana State Sycamores.
In 2000, three players from Flint, Michigan, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, and Mateen Cleaves led the team to its second national title. Dubbed the "Flintstones", they were the key to the Spartans' win against the University of Florida.
On December 13, 2003, Michigan State and Kentucky played in the Basketbowl, in which a record crowd of 78,129 watched the game in Detroit’s Ford Field. Kentucky won 79-74.
Since 1995, the team has been coached by Tom Izzo, who has a 278-120 overall head coaching record. Izzo guided the Spartans to four of nine NCAA Final Fours from 1999-2007, an accomplishment unmatched by any other college basketball program during that span. Michigan State basketball has been selected for ten consecutive NCAA tournament bids (1998-2007) as of the end of the 2007 season. Overall, Michigan State has been to the Final Four a total of eight times in its history (1957, 1979, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2010) and has made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances. Only eight schools (UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio State, Indiana, Louisville) have more total Final Four appearances.
Women's Basketball
Suzy Merchant is the head coach of the women's basketball team. Taking over in 2007, Merchant replaced Joanne McCallie who left MSU to coach for Duke University. Before coming to Michigan State, Merchant spent nine years as head coach of Eastern Michigan University, where she was the winningest coach in school history.
