It may be the first real month of the offseason, but Joe Lunardi isn’t taking any breaks from his bracketology updates. That means that Michigan State fans will have something to get mad about until football returns.
Right after the season ended, Lunardi released his way-too-early bracket projection and Michigan State was a high seed and his latest one after the transfer portal closed has provided the Spartans with another high projection.
However, this time, it comes with the most predictable draw of all time.
Last week’s bracketology update by Lunardi tabbed Michigan State as a 2-seed in the 2027 NCAA Tournament in the most predictable region that you could imagine. If Michigan State is a 2-seed in the region, can you guess who the projected 1-seed is? That’s right, it’s Duke.
Death. Taxes. Duke and Michigan State being placed in the same NCAA Tournament region.
Michigan State and Duke seem to be projected in the same region every single year and apparently this season will be no different. The worst part about this? Duke is going to be even better in 2026-27. The Spartans were in Duke’s region in this past NCAA Tournament but neither advanced far enough to face each other, but the two would be on a collision course in this projected region.
Iowa, Texas, BYU, Houston, Purdue, and Ohio State are also in Michigan State’s projected region.
I don’t know what it is, but bracketologists love to project Michigan State and Duke in the same region and the selection committee usually follows their lead.
Don’t be shocked when Michigan State and Duke are in the same region next year.
Michigan State could avoid this by earning a 1-seed
How could Michigan State avoid this annual pairing with Duke? By earning a 1-seed, of course.
If Michigan State can earn one of the four 1-seeds next year, there’s a good chance it avoids that Duke pairing. It’ll need to win the Big Ten in that scenario and probably win a good chunk of those tough non-conference games, but it’s entirely possible with the team that Tom Izzo has returning.
Jeremy Fears is likely back, Coen Carr returns, Jordan Scott and Cam Ward are rising sophomore stars, Kaleb Glenn is back from injury, Jesse McCulloch should be vastly improved, Anton Bonke has transferred in, Kur Teng returns, and the Spartans are bringing in a top-five recruiting class led by a McDonald’s All-American shooting guard. This team is going to have no shortage of talent.
I could also see a scenario in which Michigan State earns a 1-seed and Duke gets the 2-seed in the Spartans’ region. Fortunately, I think Duke is too good for that.
Best-case scenario, Michigan State and Duke meet in the Final Four or national title game.
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