After securing two more double-digit wins in Big Ten play last week, Michigan State basketball has jumped up the AP Top 25 rankings yet again, this time experiencing its biggest rise yet.
The Spartans have been in the rankings for about a month now and it seemed like they were inching up the rankings every week by 1-2 spots, but after beating Washington by 34 points and then going to Northwestern and winning by 10, AP voters were impressed enough to vault Michigan State from No. 16 all the way up to No. 12.
This four-spot jump is impressive enough to make Michigan State the new top-ranked team in the conference. It jumped Oregon and Illinois this week.
Here are the other ranked teams in the conference through Jan. 13:
Oregon (No. 13)
Purdue (No. 17)
Illinois (No. 19)
Michigan (No. 20)
Wisconsin (No. 24)
This is the highest Michigan State has been ranked in the AP Poll since the beginning of last season when it was in the top five before falling under .500 before dominating Baylor and really turning things around. But this team feels different than any we've seen since Cassius Winston and it truly feels like Michigan State has itself a title contender.
Judging by how well this team is playing together, it wouldn't be shocking to see the Spartans improve to 16-2 on the season after wins over Penn State and Illinois at home this week.
If that happens, the Spartans will likely be ranked somewhere in the top 10 when next week's poll comes out. It won't be a walk in the park, though, as Illinois might be the second or third-best team in the Big Ten right now.