A door has opened atop the Big Ten standings for Michigan State basketball, and it came in the form of a shocking Michigan home loss.
The door really cracked open slightly earlier in the week when Michigan survived a road upset to Penn State without the Nittany Lions’ best player. They had a chance to win the game in the final seconds, but the final play was a disaster and finished with an off-balance prayer 3-point attempt that obviously missed the mark.
After Penn State cracked the door open, Wisconsin barged right in and left it open for teams like Michigan State, Purdue, Nebraska, and Illinois.
Teams like Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio State, UCLA, and Iowa also can’t be counted out.
However, Michigan State is one of 3-4 of the league’s top contenders, and being the reigning Big Ten champion gives the team a little extra motivation to repeat.
Michigan was considered “untouchable” before Saturday’s loss, but Penn State and Wisconsin have made the Wolverines look not only beatable, but human. The team atop the Big Ten that was blowing everyone out just a few weeks ago has since nearly lost on the road to a mediocre team without its best player and then at home to a 10-5 Wisconsin squad.
Michigan State has just as much of a chance as Michigan
Hearing some casual fans call Michigan the “best team of all time” after its blowout wins over a mediocre San Diego State team, a disappointing Auburn team with a brand-new coach, and a solid Gonzaga team has been exhausting. Yes, those wins were very impressive at the time, but now that we’ve seen what happens when the Wolverines play Big Ten competition, they’re coming back down to earth.
Could this just be a two-game skid for Michigan? Sure, but Penn State and Wisconsin have laid out the blueprint for beating Michigan, and it’s doable.
With the loss, Michigan drops to 4-1 in the Big Ten, tied with Michigan State for third place, behind undefeated Purdue and Nebraska. The only other one-loss Big Ten team is Illinois.
The Spartans were considered the fifth or sixth-best team in the conference to begin the year, and then a distant second or third behind Michigan and Purdue, but now it looks like they might just be on the same level of contention after all.
The door atop the Big Ten is wide open.