The Big Ten champion might just have 2-3 losses this season. While it’s very possible that I’m wrong, judging by how strong the top 4-5 teams in the conference have been this season, it feels like four losses would eliminate a team from the running. That might bode well for Michigan State.
Why? Because the Spartans have gotten some major help in the standings this week already.
Michigan State is currently 9-1 in conference play, and with 10 games left, the Spartans are in a prime position to win their second straight Big Ten title. They won last year’s Big Ten title by three games, and the conference was arguably the deepest it’s ever been.
Now the Spartans face a tough stretch in the second half of conference play that begins on Friday evening against No. 3 Michigan. The Wolverines just beat No. 5 Nebraska, so they have some confidence and momentum heading into the game in East Lansing. Michigan State also came off a scare against a far inferior team that out-played the Spartans for 37 minutes.
Michigan’s win over Nebraska actually helped the Spartans.
That wasn’t the only aid Michigan State got from Big Ten foes this week, though.
Has one Big Ten contender already been eliminated?
Michigan took down the lone team that’s beaten Michigan State so far in conference play, and that was big because the Cornhuskers were alone in first place in the Big Ten, and now they face a three-way tie for first with the Spartans and the Wolverines.
Michigan State may not hold the tiebreaker with Nebraska, but the Cornhuskers face Illinois and Purdue over the next couple of weeks. There’s a good chance that there’s a loss No. 2 in there somewhere. They also haven’t had their dreaded West Coast trip yet, and they’ll have to go to Iowa in February, too.
Purdue, however, may have been eliminated from the Big Ten title race on Tuesday night with a third straight loss. Indiana was able to pull off the upset of the Boilermakers, handing them their third straight loss after previously losing to UCLA and Illinois. They sit at 7-3 in the conference standings, which is two games behind first place, with Nebraska, at Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, and at Ohio State still on the schedule. They would have to be perfect in those games to have a real shot.
Indiana helped Michigan State out with that win over Purdue, because that’s one that I didn’t quite have written in for the Boilermakers this season.
Take care of business on Friday against Michigan, and Tom Izzo and Michigan State have to feel pretty good about their repeat chances.