For a third straight week, Michigan State basketball dropped in the AP Top 25, this time coming in at No. 14, falling three spots after losing to Indiana and then going to Illinois and picking up a huge win.
The No. 14 ranking may not be where Michigan State fans want to see this team, but you really can't ask for much more after dropping three of the past five games and going from 18-2 overall and 9-0 in the Big Ten to 20-5 and 11-3 in the conference.
If Michigan State didn't lose to Indiana last week, there's a good chance the Spartans move back up to where they were before this skid, but I am also of the opinion that if they had beaten the Hoosiers, they probably don't go into Champaign and pick up a big-time win. I don't know if that's accurate, but I've seen that movie before.
Dropping to 14th, however, makes the Spartans the fourth-highest ranked team in the Big Ten which is just disappointing given the fact that they were the second-highest ranked a week ago.
Following big weeks by Michigan and Wisconsin, the Wolverines and Badgers jumped the Spartans while Purdue fell six spots but still sits one ahead of Michigan State. The Nos. 11-14 teams in the AP Top 25 are all Big Ten programs.
Maryland (No. 20) is the only other Big Ten team in the new AP Top 25 and UCLA is receiving the third-most votes of the unranked teams and Illinois is fifth.
Michigan State has a chance to really move up in the rankings this week if it can beat Purdue and then go to Ann Arbor and beat the Wolverines.