One thing you can always count on every year is Tom Izzo piecing together a talented Michigan State basketball team. He is one of the best recruiters in the nation, and he has been faring much better in the transfer portal in recent years.
While the team might fall short of expectations every now and then, it's usually not for a lack of talent. Michigan State is usually one of the nation's most talented teams.
That's not going to change this season, according to Torvik's projections.
Torvik's national talent projection rankings for Big Ten basketball this upcoming season pic.twitter.com/cZjN9N1I9J
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) August 16, 2025
According to his talent projections, Michigan State has the 15th-most talented team in the country heading into the 2025-26 season behind teams like Oregon, Michigan, Illinois, and UCLA. The Spartans are directly ahead of arguably the biggest surprise on the list (Penn State), and six spots ahead of the Big Ten favorite (Purdue).
It was a little surprising to see Oregon as the "most talented" team in the Big Ten, per the Torvik calculation. Also surprising is Penn State at No. 16 nationally, and Purdue at No. 21.
I do think Michigan State is in a good spot, and there's really not much to complain about there because the ranking is based on recruiting rankings and minutes allocated. The Spartans have plenty of top-100 players on the roster as well as highly-regarded transfers like Trey Fort and Divine Ugochukwu.
Jeremy Fears Jr., Jaxon Kohler, Coen Carr, Kur Teng, Cam Ward, and Jordan Scott are all former top-100 recruits, and the rest of the roster was highly-touted, too.
With this talent on the roster led by a Hall of Fame head coach, the sky is still the limit for Michigan State this season. Don't listen to the projections that have Michigan State finishing in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten in 2025-26 because of some key losses; this team will be a contender.