Michigan State Basketball: 3 potential first-round NCAA Tournament matchups

Selection Sunday is quickly approaching and Michigan State basketball is patiently awaiting its seed. Who could the Spartans see in round one?

Michigan State should be safely in the NCAA Tournament field, avoiding that “last four in” group and that play-in game which means the Spartans just have to look forward to an opponent on Selection Sunday.

The Spartans have been pegged as anything from a No. 10 seed to an 11 and some college basketball experts even see them as one of those last four in — but that’s less likely.

Who could the Spartans realistically see in the first round come Selection Sunday, at least according to the experts?

3. BYU Cougars

If this is the matchup Michigan State earns, which is what Joe Lunardi currently believes, the Spartans will be the No. 11 seed more than likely.

The Spartans would also see a familiar face as BYU just landed Matt Haarms from Purdue this offseason after the 7-footer decided to transfer. This wouldn’t be a terrible matchup for Marcus Bingham Jr., though, as he’s faced some much more physical bigs this season and has fared well against the likes of Trevion Williams, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Kofi Cockburn and Luka Garza.

BYU nearly had one of the best wins of the season (if not the best) in the WCC Tournament when it nearly took down Gonzaga. The Zags hadn’t lost a game all year and the Cougars had them on the ropes until late in the game when the Bulldogs made a surge.

The Cougars are 20-6 heading into March with just one ranked win over San Diego State and one win over a major conference foe in Utah but the Utes aren’t a tourney team.