Michigan State has played nothing but Quad 1 games since its loss to Indiana on Feb. 11. The Spartans have won all eight games since to improve to 13-4 on the season in those top-tier contests.
After No. 7 MSU’s 74-64 victory against No. 23 Oregon in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, it’s time for Michigan State to demand to be in the conversation for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think if we win this (Big Ten) Tournament, we deserve to be on that one-line,” freshman guard Jase Richardson said after the game. “That’s really the talk around the locker room. If we win this, we could possibly get that one-seed. So we know we’ve got to come in this next game and do our job, because we’ve got a really tough team coming out of this next quarterfinal game.”
Michigan State junior guard Tre holloman shared a similar sentiment.
“I think if we win the whole thing (the Big Ten Tournament), for sure,” Holloman said about the team’s argument for a top seed.
Heading into the Big Ten Tournament — and perhaps still — the Michigan State men's basketball team was considered unanimously to be on the two-seed line for the NCAA Tournament. Every single projected bracket from dozens of "Bracketologists" had MSU in that slot, according to the Bracket Matrix.
That’s despite the fact that Michigan State has a resume that is just as good as some teams ahead of them, if not better.
Going back to the Quad 1 wins, MSU is second in the country in that regard with the aforementioned 13. The only team ahead of the Spartans entering Friday was Auburn — the projected top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament — with 15 on the season.
The other projected No. 1 seeds are Duke, Houston and Florida. The Blue Devils have seven such victories, the Cougars have 11 and the Gators have eight. SEC squads Alabama and Tennessee, two teams ranked above or right around the Spartans, have 10 and nine such victories, respectively.
There are two main things hampering MSU’s case to surpass those ahead of it: predictive metrics and that Quad 2 home loss to the Hoosiers. Michigan State currently sits at eighth nationally on Kenpom.com and entered Friday at 10th in the NET.
As for the loss to Indiana, it is not that unusual for top seeds to drop a game like that. Indiana is currently largely projected to be a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament, after all. San Diego State, another team slotted at that seeding by many bracketologists, beat Houston back in November. North Carolina received a top seed in the NCAA Tournament last season, despite having four Quad 2 losses.
Heck, the 2000 national championship team at MSU received a one-seed in March, despite losing to Wright State earlier in the season.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way and where MSU ends up being placed on Sunday, it is clear that the Spartans are not really receiving the respect the team deserves. What this team will do instead is just control what it can.
“You know, I am having fun,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said Friday. “I think that's hard to say at this time of year because you're playing for so much, but these guys have been great for me. I think I've made some adjustments for them. It's been good.
“We had a walk-through last night, and I think the word ‘fun’ has been part of it, and I think it's because of the players and my assistants and our managers, just the whole group has been fun. They all feel like our motto's been to be different, be different.”
MSU has already ridden that motto, along with its "strength in numbers," mantra to a Big Ten regular season crown. Now, the Spartans are two wins away from earning another banner and making Sunday’s selection show a bit more interesting.
“It's fun,” Izzo said. “When you're coaching guys and everybody's playing, it's fun. But they have to know there are some guys that are going to play more than others, especially as you get into this.
“They've embraced it. They've been selfless. They pull for one another. When somebody -- when I'm getting on somebody in the huddle, the other guys are pulling for him. Come to think of it, nobody's pulling for me. That's got to change, too. But that's what's going on with this team, and it's pretty cool.”
Michigan State will now advance to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, where another Quad 1 opportunity will await against either UCLA or No. 18 Wisconsin. Saturday’s contest will tip off at 1 p.m. EDT and is to be televised on CBS.
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