Having been in the top 10 for most of the season now, Michigan State was feeling pretty comfortable as one of the best teams in the nation.
That was until a loss to Michigan changed things.
Even before the Michigan loss, the Spartans nearly fell to Rutgers on the road and that started a bleak streak of games. They came from behind to beat a bad Rutgers team, lost to Michigan by 12 after climbing back into the game and even taking a lead late, they lost to a mediocre Minnesota team after trailing all game, and then they beat Illinois before losing at Wisconsin by 21.
This recent cold streak isn’t a surprise because it happens every season, but it has let doubt creep in.
Michigan State is now 20-5 after a school record-tying 19-2 start to the year, and after losing three of the past four games, the Spartans were due for a drop in Monday’s AP Top 25.
And the Spartans saw the biggest drop of any team this week.
Where is Michigan State in the new AP Top 25?
The new AP Top 25 came out on Monday afternoon, and Michigan State fell a bit.
While it wasn’t as far as I had expected (I thought 16-17 was possible), the Spartans tied North Carolina for the biggest drop in the newest AP Poll. The Spartans fell to No. 15, letting Gonzaga, Florida, Texas Tech, and Virginia pass them up, but there’s plenty of time and opportunities to correct that before the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan State still has chances to get back into the top 10 with battles against UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan, and Purdue approaching. There’s even a road matchup with Indiana that could be tricky.
What will help Michigan State’s resume is the fact that all but one of its losses have come against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25. Wisconsin jumped into the rankings this week at No. 24 after picking up two top-10 wins last week. The Spartans are in the middle of a mid-season lull, but I wouldn’t doubt Tom Izzo’s Spartans moving forward into March — also known as the month of Izzo.