Back on Jan. 13 when the Michigan State Spartans were fresh off from the loss at Illinois, I suggested that it was not (yet) time to panic. Despite the fact that the Michigan State men's basketball team was 1-4 in conference play, the schedule implied that the Spartans had a great chance to make up ground over the next several weeks.

MSU did not exactly dominate from wire-to-wire over the past three games, but the Spartans did notch three victories over Rutgers, Minnesota and at Maryland to even the conference record at 4-4.

As a result, Michigan State is currently holding steady in the Big Ten race. The past three wins have allowed the Spartans to hold and slightly improve their position. In today's update, we will look at that position in more detail.

Also in this update, I would like to introduce one other change in format. Throughout the year, I have used this space to provide periodic updates on odds and stats related to the Big Ten race. But these data change on a daily basis, which is challenging.

For the remainder of the season, I will utilize a new odds and data tracker to house some of the raw data related to Michigan State and the Big Ten race. I plan to update some of this data on a daily basis. I will then use this space to provide analysis and commentary on what the data means.

Table 1 below shows the updated enhanced Big Ten standings with 40.7% of the regular season now complete.