Michigan State Men And Women Head To NCAA Tournaments
3/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 13, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Joanne P. McCallie and Oakland's Greg Kampe said NCAA Tournament seeds aren't as important as what grows from new opportunities.
Izzo's fifth-seeded Spartan men (22-6) will open against 12th-seeded Old Dominion (28-5) Friday in Worcester, Mass.
Michigan State would have to beat fourth-seeded Syracuse or 13th-seeded Vermont Sunday to advance to third-round play in the Austin Region.
McCallie's Spartan women (28-3), regular-season co-champs and post-season tourney winners in the Big Ten, earned the program's first No. 1 seed.
Michigan State will open against 16th-seeded Alcorn State (21-8) Saturday in Minneapolis, then need to beat USC or Louisville Monday to advance to Kansas City.
And Kampe's Golden Grizzlies (12-18), stunning survivors in the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament, will face Alabama A&M (18-13) Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, for the right to play Syracuse Region top seed North Carolina Friday in Charlotte, N.C.
"I didn't know what seed we'd be," Izzo said after his program received its eighth-straight NCAA invitation. "I thought we could be a 4 or a 6. So maybe we're right where we should be.
"We've played 13 games against NCAA Tournament teams. No question, we missed some opportunities. But we've only lost to one team that is not in the tournament. And I can honestly say we could be 26-2."
The Spartans lost to Iowa Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament but cheered when the Hawkeyes appeared in the brackets as a 10th seed.
"We're looking at it as a new start, Izzo said. "We're going to put the bads behind us but still learn from them."
The Michigan State women roared their approval when the first name in the final bracket appeared on a giant video screen in Breslin Center, then got congratulations by phone from proud supporter Magic Johnson.
"It was kind of traumatic, the way we had to wait a little longer," McCallie said. "But we knew we were in that last bracket. And we we're comfortable wherever we were in it. These kids are grumpy and tired of sitting around. They're ready to play. It doesn't matter who else is in the bracket."
That list includes top-ranked Stanford and defending national champ Connecticut. But the Spartans have already beaten the Huskies and Big East representatives Notre Dame and Boston College this season.
"I really wondered how they'd weigh what we've done this year against the tradition that we don't have in this program, compared to some other schools," McCallie said. "If you look at what we did this year, it's a hands-down case. If you look at it in terms of tradition, it gets a little murky."
Oakland will compete in its first NCAA Tournament after shocking Oral Roberts last Tuesday. The Golden Grizzlies have the fourth-worst record of any qualifier in history and one of the best underdog attitudes.
"That's just what we wanted -- a chance in the spotlight, Kampe said. "We hoped we'd be in the play-in game on national TV, four hours from campus. Our students can all get there. And if we win, we'll play Carolina, one of the most storied programs in basketball."
Oakland was 0-7 after playing Xavier, Illinois, Marquette, Texas A&M, Missouri, Kansas State and St. Louis, then broke up its 7-9 conference season with a loss at Michigan State in late January.
