"Anybody. Any place. Any time."
That's the motto that Tom Izzo and Michigan State basketball have lived by when it comes to scheduling opponents in non-conference play. The Spartans will never back away from the toughest competition and that's remained true over the years with opponents like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Tennessee (albeit a scrimmage), Villanova, Florida (that Kyle Ahrens dunk still gives me chills), North Carolina, Baylor, Arizona, and Alabama. All of those teams have been on the schedule over the past 6-7 years.
Elite non-conference scheduling is what makes Michigan State so tough to beat when it comes time for March Madness and even during Big Ten play. The Spartans are always well-prepared.
Well, the 2025-26 season will be no different.
Just this past year, Michigan State faced North Carolina, Memphis, and Kansas in non-conference play and the year before that it was Duke, Arizona, and Baylor. In 2025-26, the non-conference schedule might just be the toughest in the country with Duke recently added to go along with a matchup with North Carolina and Kentucky.
Michigan State is scheduled to face North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day in the Fort Meyers Tip-Off event and it's still to be determined who the Spartans will face before the Tar Heels in the event.
Still, three of college basketball's blue bloods will be on the non-conference schedule next season and there could still be a fourth elite opponent added via the Fort Meyers Tip-Off. That's a good 25 percent of the non-conference schedule (potentially a third of it) dedicated to facing top-10 teams.
Izzo is going to have to hope the 2025-26 Spartans are as tight-knit as this past season's team because it'll need to be if it's going to come away from those three games with a winning record.