A.J. Hoggard's Shorts Are the Early Story of the NCAA Tournament
By Kyle Koster
Michigan State and Mississippi State had the opportunity to kick off the best sporting day on the calendar with the earliest Thursday afternoon. The matchup between two defensive-minded teams is appropriately intense and the Spartans came out hot, building up a 20-8 lead before the Bulldogs battled back to make it 31-24 at halftime.
Michigan State senior guard A.J. Hoggard scored five points and handed out five assists during the first 20 minutes, though some careless ball-handling drew the ire of Tom Izzo. And he did it by sporting a bold fashion choice.
He's out there playing with the Spartan head on his shorts adorning his right leg while all of the other Michigan State players have it on their left. Everyone is assuming they are on backward.
Did Michigan State's AJ Hoggard have his shorts on backwards for the first part of the game? pic.twitter.com/BGcxzYF0WI
— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) March 21, 2024
Or at least they were. Because this clip of Malik Hall's runner to end the half shows Hoggard dressed like all of his teammates.
Malik Hall beats the buzzer to give the Spartans a 7-point lead at the break 🙌#MarchMadness @MSU_Basketball pic.twitter.com/q4sZAAlJOc
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 21, 2024
We may be looking at the ever-so-rare good use of social media here as someone may have seen the tweets and informed Hoggard of the situation. Or maybe he did that for luck. Whatever. No judgement.
If Michigan State can hang on he'll get a chance to wear his shorts however he wants against North Carolina on Saturday.