MSU will have a Saginaw connection for the college tourney opener at noon Thursday when Michigan State faces Mississippi State.
No, it won’t be quite like calendar 2000, when our own Jason Richardson helped lead the Spartans, along with Flintstones Mo Pete (Morris Peterson) and Mo (Maurice) Cleaves, to their only post-Magic national championship.
Saginaw-born Jimmy Bell Jr., 6-foot-10, averages 11 points and 10 boards, except it’s not for the MSU in East Lansing, but the campus in Starkville. He played at Arthur Hill until he moved to Scottsdale. His father, who passed away six years ago, was a 1973 Buena Vista standout known as “The Doctor,” adopting the legendary basketball nickname for his career selling cars.
Both MSU school teams this season played 50-50 ball in their major conferences, and so in the middle seeding it is not a bracket buster either way. The winner will be a big underdog against Houston on Saturday.
The ninth seed is below usual standards for the Michigan State men, but a No. 9 for the women is a high point in recent years. Mo (Moira) Joiner is the senior captain, finishing her career with a flourish. At 5-foot-10, the Heritage High state champ in 2018 and ’19 has evolved into a markswoman, hitting 43 percent on three-pointers and 88 percent on free throws while scoring 15 points per game.
The Spartettes open at 11:30 a.m. Friday versus North Carolina. Their middle-of-the-pack seed seems low, given that they lost at Iowa only on a 30-foot buzzer beater by Caitlin Clark that Joiner, a standout on defense, barely missed blocking. If they win Thursday, on Saturday they face Dawn Staley’s South Carolina powerhouse.
Another local link comes at 3 o’clock Thursday on the men’s side, after MSU vs. MSU should be finished. Illinois, with Ty Rodgers, is a big fave over Morehead State.
Ty is the nephew of J-Rich himself, 6-foot-6 and athletic in his uncle’s style that took root at Arthur Hill. He moved in childhood with his family to Grand Blanc. Who would have known he would become an all-stater for another Saginawian, Coach Mike Thomas, en route to the Bobcats’ 2021 state crown and ’22 runnerup finish?
As a college sophomore, Rodgers is a main cog for the Illini. In a typical role, in the win over Wisconsin for the Big Ten tourney title, he played 17 minutes and contributed 7 points and 5 boards, along with an assist, block and steal.
Illinois joins Michigan State in a bracket headed by UConn, the defending champs.
