Greg Crawford

Mar 28, 2025 | freep.com | Greg Crawford

Michigan sports history could be made this weekend if — and it's a mighty big "if" — the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans both win their Friday night games in the Sweet 16 round of March Madness. Never in the previous 85-year history of the NCAA tournament, which began in 1939, have the two rival programs met, but there's a potential matchup in the making mere hours from now.

Mar 28, 2025 | freep.com | Greg Crawford

Coach Tom Izzo has taken Michigan State to the Final Four eight times during his Spartans coaching tenure, which began with the 1995-96 season. In addition to winning a national championship in 2000 with a win over Florida, he led the Spartans to the 2009 championship game, which they lost to North Carolina.

Mar 28, 2025 | freep.com | Greg Crawford

Auburn University notes that its teams have been known as the Tigers since it fielded its first football team in 1892. The school says its motto, War Eagle, "has become a way for the Auburn Family to greet and identify with each other all over the world."Auburn University wants to make one thing perfectly clear: Its official school mascot is a tiger — not an eagle. That's all spelled out with no nonsense on the of the Alabama school's website: "Auburn does not have two mascots," it states.

Mar 28, 2025 | sports.yahoo.com | Greg Crawford

Auburn University wants to make one thing perfectly clear: Its official school mascot is a tiger — not an eagle. That's all spelled out with no nonsense on the of the Alabama school's website: "Auburn does not have two mascots," it states.

Mar 28, 2025 | freep.com | Greg Crawford

For the 16th time during his 30 seasons as head coach of Michigan State basketball, Tom Izzo and his Spartans have advanced to the Sweet 16 round of March Madness. Izzo and his teams are 10-5 in Sweet 16 play of the NCAA tournament, and their victories include a 75-58 win over Syracuse on their way to a national championship in 2000. Other big Sweet 16 wins came in 2005, when the Spartans defeated top-seeded Duke, and in 2014, when they tripped up No. 1 seed Virginia in a 61-59 thriller.