Zach Randolph isn't worried about whether his 14-year-old son, Zachariah, retraces his sizable basketball footsteps. "Basketball isn't everything," Randolph likes to tell him. Yes, he counsels him on the game. But most of their conversations are about life's choices and consequences. Be positive, Randolph tells him. Avoid alcohol and drugs. Make smart decisions. "That's an important age — 14, 15, 16," Randolph said. "I didn't have that father figure in my life. Maybe if I would have had a daddy saying, 'Zach, don't do this' or 'Get in the house' or 'Where's your report card?,' then … "

Tom Izzo is looking putting together another usual tough 2012-13 NCAA basketball schedule that may include a visit to Canadian soil. Izzo also talked more about the foreign tour he's considering for this August. "It might be overseas, but it might be in Canada," Izzo said. "I think this is a year where all the young players we've got, the freshmen and sophomores, it will be a great year to do it. Now that you can take your freshmen, I think it's a lot more conducive than three, four years ago when you couldn't.

The San Antonio Silver Stars have signed have signed Canadian forward Kalisha Keane for the upcoming WNBA 2012 season. Kalisha earned the the 2011 Big Ten Player of the Year at Michigan State and has spent the 2011-12 offseason with Croatia’s Gospic CO where she has averaged 8.1 points and 3.7 rebounds through 14 EuroLeague games. The 6-1 forward is also a member of the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team, most recently helping Team Canada to a third-place finish at the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship where she averaged 7.5 points and 3.0 rebounds through six games.

The Michigan State Spartans are looking to make a trip to Canada to build team chemistry after a disappointing end to their 2011 season. Head Coach Tom Izzo is considering the option take the Spartans across the border and get an early start to the 2011-2012 NCAA Basketball season. Izzo made the comments in his annual end of season media session, plans are not finalized and could change. He is hoping to set up an exhibition tour in August in Canada to help his team build chemistry before fall practice. Potential match-ups should included 2-3 games against CIS Basketball competition. As for teams were guessing Windsor Lancers, Brock Badgers, Western Mustangs? What about a visit to the nations capital to battle the CIS Basketball champions Carleton Ravens? That would be a great head coach duel between Tom Izzo and Dave Smart. The Spartans are coming off one of the worst seasons under Tom Izzo. They struggled mightily throughout the regular season and was defeated in the first round of the 2011 March Madness national tournament. And he said this season was a "dip" and not a "disaster," but that it has had a humbling effect.

How do you measure someone's basketball IQ? Testing can figure out someone's Intelligence Quotient, which indicates a person's mental abilities relative to others of approximately the same age. But a basketball IQ?

A storied career is winding down quickly for Kalisha Keane, and she's playing like she doesn't want it to end any time soon.

Remember Maurice Joseph? He was the former Spartan guard who transferred after the 2006-07 season in search of a mid-major program where he’d earn more playing time. Joseph went to Vermont, sat out a year under NCAA transfer rules and began playing for the Catamounts in 2008-2009. Now in his senior season, Joseph is going back to the NCAA Tournament and will face Syracuse in the first round.

In an interview that played on the Breslin Center scoreboard during the MSU women's basketball team's 86-71 win over Michigan on Thursday, junior forward Kalisha Keane said her dream job is to become president of the United States.

Keane's dream is impossible — the Constitution prevents Keane, a Canadian, from taking the country's highest office — but her all-around performance left the crowd of 7,625 thinking that anything might be possible for the 6-foot-1 forward.

With 18 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals, Keane ignited an MSU (10-4, 1-2) team that opened Big Ten play with two losses for the first time since the 2001-2002 season.