Big Ten Media Days are upon us, and it’s the first real extended preview of the 2025-26 Michigan State basketball team with Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr, and Tom Izzo in Rosemont, Ill., on Thursday and Friday.
The Spartans will be well-represented by a couple of team captains returning from a Big Ten title team and a Hall of Fame head coach, but they are already being overlooked by the media.
Despite winning the Big Ten by three whole games this past season, the Spartans weren’t even picked to finish in the top five in the preseason media poll.
That’s right, the media believes there will be five teams better than the reigning Big Ten champ.
A look at the 2025-26 @bigten preseason media poll 👀#B1GMediaDays pic.twitter.com/mXgHbXblxf
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) October 9, 2025
Purdue is the consensus No. 1 team in the conference and Michigan is projected to finish right behind them, receiving three of the 28 first-place votes. UCLA, Illinois, and Oregon round out the top five.
Michigan State came in at No. 6 in the preseason poll, just ahead of Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State, and Indiana. It’s kind of surprising to see the reigning champ which brings back four players with starting experience and a quality 2025 recruiting class and transfer class projected so low. It almost feels like this is the disrespect that Izzo thrives off of.
The Spartans are going to prove a lot of people wrong this season who just expect a new-look roster to completely fold in the Big Ten title race and finish outside of the top five.
Michigan State should be one of the favorites to win the conference. Disrespect season is back.