We’re just a few months away from the start of the 2026-27 Michigan State basketball season and excitement is at an all-time high.
The past month has been great for Tom Izzo. Not only did the Spartans get Jeremy Fears back after he flirted with the NBA draft, but he also brought in his entire freshman class and they’ve been putting on a show at the Moneyball Pro-Am over the past week. Oh, and he got Anton Bonke back after he, too, considered remaining in the NBA draft.
It’s been a mostly good offseason for the Spartans outside of missing on some top center targets in the transfer portal — especially Moustapha Thiam who committed to Michigan.
Other than that, Michigan State has a roster capable of winning a national title and the experts agree.
Jon Rothstein updates his way-too-early rankings for the 2026-27 season on a daily basis and his latest edition has Michigan State all the way up near his top five. He didn’t give reasons for his rankings, but he had the Spartans a little closer to No. 10 earlier this offseason before Fears announced that he was returning.
Rothstein has the Spartans at No. 6 behind only Florida (1), Duke (2), Illinois (3), Michigan (4), and UConn (5). I think there’s a legitimate case for the Spartans to be ahead of everyone outside of Duke and Florida. Personally, the Michigan hype is warranted because the Wolverines just won a national title, but they’re replacing essentially everyone and I don’t see Mike Boynton coaching a top-five team.
Not a bad ranking, though.
Michigan State is built for title contention
Izzo has already alluded to this and everyone knows it, but this might be his most complete team, on paper, in a decade.
The Spartans have legitimate NBA talent, an All-American point guard, the best athlete in college basketball, an elite incoming recruiting class, great size, a budding sophomore class, and a Hall of Fame head coach. There aren’t many teams that can say that they have more than the Spartans.
It’s very early, but I believe that Izzo will end his Final Four drought next March and he’ll be in Detroit with arguably his best team in over a decade. I could also see Duke and Florida there, too, unfortunately.
Time for Izzo to win No. 2.
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