Michigan State Basketball: 3 pros and cons of the Ohio State loss

I’m glad I waited 24 hours to begin sharing my feelings about Michigan State basketball’s loss to Ohio State or else this would have been a list of 13 cons. However, I was able to see some sunshine on an otherwise dark day.

Here are three pros and three cons of the Spartans’ loss to Ohio State.

Pro: Big Ten tourney performance does not equal NCAA tourney performance

There have been MSU teams that won the Big Ten Tournament only to lose their opening round game, and teams that lost their first Big Ten Tournament game that went on to go to the Final Four.

From what I’ve seen, there is no correlation between what this team does in the Big Ten Tournament and how deep they go in the NCAA Tournament.

Con: This loss hurts MSU’s seeding

While everyone was hoping for a 5 or 6-seed, this loss more than likely means the Spartans will be a 7 or 8-seed, meaning a more difficult opening matchup.

If the Spartans are able to shoot their way into the Round of 32, they have the daunting task of taking down a 2 or 1-seed. While this has been a funky year when it comes to one dominant team, the projected 1-seeds have just too much talent for the Spartans to compete, barring an outer space shooting day (which is entirely possible).

I just worry this sets up for the classic “grind it out” victory then right into a “competitive” loss to a higher seed, which seems to be the script year after year.