Michigan State basketball pickup game is what college sports are about

What makes college sports unique sometimes gets obscured. Especially these days.

Blinded by the bright lights of games starting close to midnight to fill programming blocks for television. Overshadowed by big money being paid to coaches and now players. Drowned by the seemingly endless annual flood of athletes from one school to the next, with overboard social media fury and praise from fans and haters they all receive gushing through phones every second.

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It’s hard to remember at times that these are young adults surrounded by other young adults who are all still learning and developing, preparing for their lives beyond the classrooms. Professionally and socially.

Until you get a gentle reminder that the athletic giants do still walk among their peers. Or a not-so-gentle clue, as gobsmacking as a Coen Carr slam dunk over a classmate on a random Tuesday night in March.

MSU Coen Carr dunks during midnight madness festivities, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in East Lansing.

Earlier this week, Michigan State basketball’s Carson Cooper put out a late-afternoon open call on his Instagram story for a pickup game on Tuesday, March 31. The departing senior and some of his teammates, whose season came to an end with a loss to Connecticut in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Washington, planned to head to IM West and have some fun. It was something his former teammate, Frankie Fidler, did a year ago.

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According to Lucas Gentilia of The State News, MSU’s campus newspaper, the bleachers and sidelines on the main first-floor court of the intramural building were packed by 7:30 p.m. with students wanting a shot to take on the not-technically-pros or just to get a close-up glimpse of their elite basketball talents. Cooper, Carr, Jesse McCulloch, Cam Ward and Divine Ugochukwu – back on the floor less than two months after undergoing foot surgery – formed a team and accepted challengers.

Kur Teng and Nick Sanders watched from the sidelines. So did beloved mascot Sparty. Along with…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/michigan-state-basketball-pickup-game-090834691.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-02 09:08:00

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