EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State men's basketball is no longer in the march madness tournament but the group of guys behind the players you see on the court are traveling to Houston to play in the elite 8, including one West Michigan native.
“A family friend of mine was a manager, five years ago. Seven years ago, somewhere around there. And he used to always tell me stories about it and it sounded like a lot of fun for him,” said David.
MSU freshman and East Grand Rapids native David Bernecker is a spartan basketball manager. Growing up around former managers as a kid.
“My dad was a manager too actually in the early 90’s under Jud Heathcoate. My dad would talk about it growing up and it’s something I didn’t think about it as something I wanted to do until our family friend started talking about it,” said Bernecker.
Last fall David sat down with Coach Izzo and his staff and got a spot as one of the few managers for the men's team. A job that requires early hours, late nights, lots of film but the chance to travel the country.
But for him, the tournament isn’t over. David and nine other managers are flying down to Houston on Thursday to play in the elite 8 of the managers tournament.
“I got this job from a guy who was the GA and is now the assistant head coach at Western, Manny Dosanjh, just being here for two and a half years has been incredible. Just something you’d never imagine. Now going down to the tournament again, I was there last year when we didn’t do as well as I think we’ll do this year. But I think it’ll be a lot of fun” said senior manager Dan Lloyd.
“Just this whole year, everything the team did with playing in San Diego, playing in Portland. Going on this little run and getting to play at Madison Square Garden it was just amazing to be part of everything that they did this year,” said senior manager Pav Patovic.
Last season the MSU managers went 0-2, falling to the Notre Dame managers who went on to win it all. This season, they think they’ve got a better chance.
“I do think we have a chase to beat West Virginia. I think we have a good chance to win the whole thing I would say. We have a lot of talent on our manager team,” said Berneck.
“Something that Izzo preaches the whole family thing around Michigan state basketball. Small events like these are part of the reason why it makes it feel like family,” said Lloyd.
Since this is a self funded trip, Coach Izzo offered to pay for all nine of the flights for the managers down to Houston. if you’re interested in helping them out more, you can support them through their Go-fund-me. The Spartans will play West Virginia on Friday in the quarterfinals, tip off set for 2pm.
