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

By Connor Muldowney

Michigan State takes the floor during the 68-57 loss to Maryland in the Big Ten tournament on Thursday, March 11, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.Msu Mary
Michigan State takes the floor during the 68-57 loss to Maryland in the Big Ten tournament on Thursday, March 11, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.Msu Mary /
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Feb 23, 2021; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Mark Smith (13) reacts after scoring against the Mississippi Rebels during the second half at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 23, 2021; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Mark Smith (13) reacts after scoring against the Mississippi Rebels during the second half at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Missouri Tigers

This is the projected matchup for Michigan State in Jerry Palm’s CBS Sports bracket as the Spartans would be a No. 10 seed, facing one of the better teams from the SEC in Missouri.

Like BYU, Missouri would provide Michigan State with a familiar face. This time, it’s a player who spurned the Spartans as a recruit as well as a former Big Ten foe. During the recruiting process a few years ago, Mark Smith was highly considering Michigan State and it looked like Tom Izzo was about to land him but Brad Underwood swooped in and stole him. He played for Illinois for a season before transferring to Missouri.

Now Smith and the Tigers are 16-9 and finished 8-8 in SEC play which was good for seventh in the conference. They weren’t anything special, but spent plenty of time ranked.

Missouri doesn’t do anything particularly well, scoring 73 points and giving up 72 per game, and the Tigers went just 5-7 after an 11-2 start to the year so they’re limping into March.

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