Michigan State Basketball: Spartans ranked No. 2 in preseason AP Poll

Michigan State basketball opens the season as the No. 2 team in the AP poll. What other competition do the Spartans face?

Expectations are at an all-time high for Tom Izzo and Michigan State basketball as the season approaches. The Spartans will open the year on Nov. 10 after three exhibition games, two of which have already been played.

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Izzo isn’t the kind of coach to predict national titles or conference crowns, but he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t expect big things out of this team.

The first AP Top 25 was released on Wednesday afternoon and the Spartans remained No. 2, just like they were in the Coaches Poll. This is an interesting rank given the amount of returning talent Michigan State has along with players getting healthy who didn’t play last year and the additions of Xavier Tillman and Jaren Jackson Jr.

Duke is the No. 1 team in the land and the Spartans will face the Blue Devils in the Champions Classic in the first week of the year. That could be a Final Four or national title preview.

Arizona, Kansas and Kentucky round out the top five while the first Big Ten team listed after MSU is Minnesota at No. 15 overall. Northwestern is No. 19 and Purdue is No. 20. There could be a couple of fringe teams like Michigan and Wisconsin, but the Big Ten isn’t the deepest this season.

Next: MSU Football: Report card for loss to Northwestern

With Miles Bridges coming back for the sole reason to win the national title, the Spartans are going to be playing hungry all year. Could this be the season Izzo wins his second ring?