When it comes to the NCAA Tournament, teams get seeded based on several factors, including record, quality wins, no bad losses, and NET rankings. Over the past four years, Michigan State basketball has been hoping it's done enough in the regular season to make the NCAA Tournament.
This year, the Spartans are fighting for a No. 1 seed.
If Michigan State wants to get one of those coveted No. 1 seeds, it needs to add to its already impressive resume. One way to do that is by securing Quad 1 wins.
So far this season, Michigan State is 5-2 in Quad 1 games with its only losses to Kansas and Memphis. The Quad 1 wins are North Carolina, Ohio State, Northwestern, Illinois, and Rutgers.
According to the NET, though, the Spartans are ranked just No. 16 which may only be good enough to get them a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament unless it improves by a healthy margin before March.
Updated NET Rankings pic.twitter.com/rf9VnNKOqj
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) January 31, 2025
How can the Spartans improve that ever-important NET ranking? By securing at least a couple of Quad 1 wins over the next week. The Spartans have three opportunities to secure a Quad 1 win over the next week against USC and UCLA on the road and then Oregon at home.
Oregon would technically be a Quad 2 game if it was played today after it lost big on the road to UCLA, but it has a week to climb back into the top 30 -- it's four spots away.
Outside of those three Quad 1 opportunities (one is still potentially Quad 1), Michigan State will have seven more Quad 1 games to end the season -- the only one remaining that isn't Quad 1 is Indiana.
Michigan State could drastically improve its NET ranking and NCAA Tournament seeding over the next month, starting this week with three Quad 1 opportunities.