Michigan State Basketball: No. 2 seed adds another chip to shoulder

Michigan State basketball was robbed of a No. 1 seed and even more a favorable region but this could be good for the team’s growing chip.

Michigan State capped off the Big Ten Tournament with a come-from-behind win over in-instate rival Michigan. This was the third time they beat Michigan on the year and clearly the committee decided that the Big Ten Tournament did not matter.

No matter the outcome, the Spartans still received a No. 2 seed in Duke’s region. How did they come to this conclusion and why was this team not a No. 1 seed?

This Spartans have gone through so much adversity this season. They started off strong and healthy but with a loss to Kansas. Then, at the end of December, they lost Josh Langford with a foot injury — their second leading scorer.

Shortly after, they realized that this was a season-ending injury and he had surgery so he could start the healing process. They went through a rough patch and lost three in a row — two of them to sub-par teams. They also lost Nick Ward for the last few weeks of the regular season with a fractured hand and through all of this adversity, they have had some great things happen throughout the course of the season.

In total, these Spartans have 13 Quadrant 1 wins which is the most in the country. They won a share of the conference title and they won their conference tournament — only Duke won both and got a No. 1 seed. Gonzaga lost in the conference tourney title game, Virginia and North Carolina were the ACC regular season champs but neither them were in the ACC tournament title game.

No team won both of the ACC regular season and tournament championships. Yes, the top of that league is good but the top of the Big Ten is just as good.

What hurt the seeding and region? Bad losses.

Michigan State does have a few bad losses to Indiana (twice) and Illinois. However, North Carolina lost to Syracuse, they also lost big to Louisville and to Texas. Duke lost to North Carolina twice but without Zion and Syracuse at home.

There is just no need for this much disrespect to the Big Ten and Michigan State. The bad losses that Michigan State lost they had to do that without one of their top defenders and second-leading scorer sitting on the bench. Yet, they bounced back and won some huge games without him as well.

These Spartans were robbed of a No. 1 seed with no reason.

Throughout all this adversity, it has been Michigan State vs. the world with the injuries it has had to deal with and no only getting a No. 2 seed. The chairman said the win against Michigan only jumped them one spot because these Spartans were apparently as low as No. 7 overall in the committee’s eyes even though they have gone through all of that and proven they can win without Langford.

This will just be one more hurdle for them to jump through as they go on to prove to the NCAA basketball world that they did deserve a No. 1 seed, instead of Gonzaga or North Carolina.