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Michigan State Basketball: Will the Spartans make the NCAA tourney?

By Stephen Robb

Jan 7, 2017; University Park, PA, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Miles Bridges (22) shoots the ball past Penn State Nittany Lions forward Lamar Stevens (11) during the first half at Palestra. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2017; University Park, PA, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Miles Bridges (22) shoots the ball past Penn State Nittany Lions forward Lamar Stevens (11) during the first half at Palestra. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /
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Michigan State basketball has had an up-and-down season and the Spartans are hoping to put it together for an NCAA Tourney bid.

I’ll put it all out on the line — yes, trolls, you may tweet at me (sigh, the life of a troll) — if the Spartans get it together, they will be a dangerous team in the NCAA Tourney. This MSU team is not far from being really good, but they have lapses of judgment, due to their youth and turnovers. However, if they can put it together in the remaining weeks then they might be one of the most dangerous teams to hit the tourney.

Must Read: MSU Basketball: 5 bold predictions for month of February

Why would I write this when the team has struggled mightily? I will answer that with two examples.

One is UConn, circa 2014. The team was a middle-of-the-road group with a star in Shabazz Napier, but it was average most of the season (the Huskies were nothing to write home about at the start of the tourney). However, they got hot and had the favorable matchups and won it all.

The other example is the 2001-02 Indiana team that went 19-11 in the regular season (again not much of a story here) but the Hoosiers got hot and went to the tourney. Though they were turned away by Maryland in the National Championship game.

This Spartan team is loaded with talent, there’s no question about that. The frustration for Tom Izzo has been getting this team to play together and get into a rhythm. The Spartans have a deep bench, young highly-recruited talent that has flashed genius at times yet they tend to sputter like they did in Ann Arbor.

If — and this is a big if — they can play together, then this team will be a surprise one in the tourney, if they can actually make it. They can matchup against the higher-ranked teams and will need to because they would be a lower-seeded team.

Related Story: MSU Recruiting: 5 bold predictions for February

All it takes is an upset here and there (which March is known for) and you have another surprise team. This time it would be the Spartans.

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