Michigan State basketball projected to earn 3-seed in 2021 NCAA Tournament

Michigan State basketball is entering the 2020-21 season with high hopes and one expert believes that the Spartans will achieve big things.

College basketball is still over a month away, but there’s plenty of excitement building around Michigan State.

Tom Izzo is returning an impressive squad despite losing Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman to the NBA draft process. Still, there are many doubters of the Spartans because of the two departed captains but Rocket Watts provides plenty of intrigue as well as Josh Langford, the return of Aaron Henry, Joey Hauser and a talented incoming freshman class.

Michigan State has had plenty of success with varied rosters over the past few years, winning three straight Big Ten titles. Usually, Izzo squeezes everything out of his teams, no matter what kind of departures they experience.

Prime example would be losing Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson Jr. following the 2017-18 season and then going on to make a Final Four in 2018-19 — the Spartans also lost Langford midway through the year.

So what do the experts think about the Spartans for the upcoming season without Winston and Tillman? Well, Andy Katz is optimistic about Michigan State’s 2020-21 season.

The college basketball expert projected the 2021 NCAA Tournament’s field of 68 and listed the Spartans as one of his 3-seeds.

Would this be good enough to win the Big Ten title for a fourth straight season? Potentially, but the Spartans are seeded lower than Illinois (No. 1), Wisconsin (No. 2) and Iowa (No. 2).

There’s enough talent in East Lansing for the upcoming season to not only compete for a Big Ten title but to also finish with a top three seed in the NCAA Tournament. And MSU fans aren’t the only ones who believe that.