Michigan State is going to be one of the best teams in college basketball this upcoming season. Now that I’ve gotten that very common, lukewarm take out of the way, I’ll go one step further and say that the Spartans will be a top-five team for a good chunk of the season.
That’ll start in the preseason.
Jon Rothstein released his latest ‘Rothstein 45’ where he ranks the top 45 teams in college basketball ahead of the 2026-27 season, and Michigan State finally got bumped up into the top five. For most of the offseason to this point, Rothstein had the Spartans on the outside looking in behind the likes of Arizona and Michigan, but things have changed.
Michigan just promoted Mike Boynton Jr. to replace Dusty May who left for the Dallas Mavericks after two seasons in Ann Arbor while Michigan State has kept most of its roster intact.
For that reason, Rothstein had the Spartans jumping ahead of Michigan in his latest preseason top five, and his list looks very similar to mine. However, I’m a little higher on MSU than he is.
Here’s my preseason top five:
- Duke
- Florida
- Michigan State
- Illinois
- UConn
Everyone and their brother has Illinois leading the way in the Big Ten before the 2026-27 season, but I just think that Michigan State has more depth than the Illini. Those two teams will be Nos. 1 and 2 in the Big Ten for most of the season with Michigan right there, nipping on their heels like an untrained chihuahua.
I do feel like Texas may be the sixth-best team in the country and Arizona is seventh with Michigan No. 8 and Tennessee at No. 9. My rankings are slightly different, but they contain mostly the same teams.
Some might be surprised by Rothstein’s move to make Michigan State one of his preseason top-five teams over Michigan, but this decision was well overdue.
Coaching makes the difference between Michigan, Michigan State
Rothstein continued to hold Michigan in that top five for weeks after the season, even when it looked like the Spartans would have the better projected starting five and overall depth than the Wolverines.
Then Dusty left for the NBA and things changed.
A team that has nearly as much talent as Michigan State can no longer be ranked ahead of the Spartans just because it’s the reigning national champ with one of the best coaches in the country. You can get by on name alone for only so long. Boynton just doesn’t deliver the same excitement that Dusty did and that’s why the Wolverines get knocked down a peg or two.
Boynton isn’t a bad coach, by any means, but he’s more of a supplemental guy rather than the guy.
We’re going to see just how different these two teams will be this season as Tom Izzo leads one of the most talented and deepest rosters that he’s ever had while Boynton tries to coach up a talented team that hasn’t really played together much. Trying to build team chemistry quickly might backfire.
And when it does, Michigan State fans will be ready with the receipts.
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