Michigan State Spartans women's basketball

Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State Spartans
	2024–25 Michigan State Spartans women's basketball team
University	Michigan State University
Head coach	Robyn Fralick (2nd season)
Conference	Big Ten
Location	East Lansing, Michigan
Arena	Breslin Student Events Center ; (capacity: 16,280)
Nickname	Spartans
Colors	Green and white;
Uniforms
Home	Away ;
NCAA tournament runner-up
	2005
NCAA tournament Final Four
	2005
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
	2005
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
	2005, 2006, 2009
NCAA tournament round of 32
	1991, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019
NCAA tournament appearances
	1991, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2024, 2025
AIAW tournament appearances
	1977
Conference tournament champions
	2005
Conference regular season champions
	1997, 2005, 2011, 2014

Last updated March 25, 2025

The Michigan State Spartans women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing Michigan State University. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Spartans play home basketball games at the Breslin Student Events Center on the university campus in East Lansing, Michigan.^[2]^[3]

History

The Spartans began play in 1972. In 1991, the Spartans made their first ever NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, their first postseason appearance since the 1977 AIAW women's basketball tournament. In 2005, the Spartans won 33 games (a school record), advancing all the way to the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament championship, before losing 84–62 to Baylor. The Spartans have been to 20 NCAA Tournaments in their history, with their most recent trip coming in 2025.

Coaching history

Coach	Years	Record	Conference record	Conference titles
Mikki Baile	1972–1975	32–12	0–0	0
Dominic Marino	1975–1976	6–16	0–0	0
Karen Langeland	1976–2000	376–290	156–165	1
Joanne P. McCallie	2000–2007	149–75	68–44	1
Suzy Merchant	2007–2023	327–187	159-112	2
Robyn Fralick	2023–Present	22-9	12-6	0
Totals		764–489	325–262	4

Postseason results

NCAA Division I

The Spartans have made 20 appearances in the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. Their combined record is 21–20.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1991	#4	Second Round†	#5 Oklahoma State	L 96–94^(3OT)
1996	#9	First Round Second Round	#8 UMass #1 Connecticut	W 60–57^(OT) L 88–68
1997	#8	First Round Second Round	#9 Portland #1 North Carolina	W 75–70^(OT) L 81–71
2003	#8	First Round	#9 TCU	L 50–47
2004	#8	First Round Second Round	#9 Arizona #1 Texas	W 72–60 L 80–61
2005	#1	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship Game	#16 Alcorn State #8 USC #5 Vanderbilt #2 Stanford #1 Tennessee #2 Baylor	W 73–41 W 61–59 W 76–64 W 76–69 W 68–64 L 84–62
2006	#4	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#13 Wisconsin-Milwaukee #5 Kentucky #1 Duke	W 65–46 W 67–63 L 86–61
2007	#5	First Round Second Round	#12 Delaware #4 Rutgers	W 69–58 L 70–57
2009	#9	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#8 Middle Tennessee State #1 Duke #4 Iowa State	W 60–59 W 63–49 L 69–68
2010	#5	First Round Second Round	#12 Bowling Green #4 Kentucky	W 72–62 L 70–52
2011	#4	First Round Second Round	#13 Northern Iowa #5 Green Bay	W 69–66 L 65–56
2012	#10	First Round	#7 Louisville	L 67–55
2013	#5	First Round Second Round	#12 Marist #4 Maryland	W 55–47 L 74–49
2014	#5	First Round Second Round	#12 Hampton #4 North Carolina	W 91–61 L 62–53
2016	#4	First Round Second Round	#13 Belmont #5 Mississippi State	W 74–60 L 74–72
2017	#9	First Round	#8 Arizona State	L 73–61
2019	#9	First Round Second Round	#8 Central Michigan #1 Notre Dame	W 89–88 L 91–63
2021	#10	First Round	#7 Iowa State	L 79–72
2024	#9	First Round	#8 North Carolina	L 56–59
2025	#7	First Round Second Round	#10 Harvard #2 NC State	W 64–50 L 49–83

† The Spartans received a bye into the Second Round.

WNIT

The Spartans have made 5 appearances in the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Their combined record is 12–5.

Year	Round	Opponent	Results
1999	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Akron Michigan Wisconsin	W 78–65 W 69–68 L 69–70^OT
2000	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Villanova Cincinnati Wisconsin	W 74–62 W 88–83 L 45–77
2002	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals	DePaul Illinois Alabama Oregon	W 87–76 W 70–57 W 79–61 L 54–65
2008	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Game	Bowling Green Kansas Michigan NC State Marquette	W 74–66 W 58–54 W 45–40 W 58–57 L 66–81
2018	First Round Second Round Third Round	Wright State Toledo South Dakota	W 81–50 W 68–66 L 83–85^OT

AIAW Division I

The Spartans made one appearance in the AIAW women's basketball tournament, with a combined record of 0–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1977	First Round Consolation First Round	Tennessee Utah	L, 62–76 L, 62–63

Big Ten Medal of Honor

1983 – Karen Wells
1985 – Kelly Belanger
1986 – Julie Polakowski
1990 – Eileen Shea
2006 – Liz Shimek
2010 – Allyssa DeHaan

Big Ten Coach of the Year

1988 – Karen Langeland
2005 – Joanne P. McCallie
2011 – Suzy Merchant

References

↑ "Brand Reference Guide" (PDF). 1 April 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
↑ "Michigan State Women's Basketball :: Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
↑ "2015-16 Michigan State Women's Basketball" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2018.

External links

Official website

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] "Brand Reference Guide" (PDF). 1 April 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.

[2] "Michigan State Women's Basketball :: Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2016.

[3] "2015-16 Michigan State Women's Basketball" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2018.

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[3]

v t e Michigan State Spartans women's basketball
Venues	Jenison Fieldhouse (1972–1989) Breslin Student Events Center (1989–present)
Rivalries	Michigan
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e Big Ten Conference women's basketball
Teams	Illinois Fighting Illini Indiana Hoosiers Iowa Hawkeyes Maryland Terrapins Michigan Wolverines Michigan State Spartans Minnesota Golden Gophers Nebraska Cornhuskers Northwestern Wildcats Ohio State Buckeyes Oregon Ducks Penn State Lady Lions Purdue Boilermakers Rutgers Scarlet Knights UCLA Bruins USC Trojans Washington Huskies Wisconsin Badgers
Championships & awards	Regular season champions Big Ten Conference women's basketball tournament Coach of the Year Player of the Year Freshman of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball (defunct)
Seasons	1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25