Tom Izzo and Michigan State basketball are already making some moves after just one week of action thanks to a win over No. 14 Arkansas at the Breslin Center.
The Spartans played two games during the opening week of college basketball and they sit at 2-0 after beating John Calipari’s team as well as Colgate. It wasn’t the prettiest opening week of play in Izzo’s coaching career, but he’s also coaching essentially a brand-new roster.
The only returning pieces that had a solid role on the 2024-25 Big Ten title squad are Jeremy Fears Jr., Jaxon Kohler, Carson Cooper, and Coen Carr while the rest of the team is either in their first season with the Spartans or didn’t play enough last year to have an impact (Kur Teng).
Despite this, Michigan State found a way to pick up a top-15 win over Arkansas and that, in turn, has led to a jump in the AP Top 25 this week.
The regular season’s first AP Top 25 rankings are officially out, and Michigan State saw a nice jump, sliding up five spots from the preseason poll to No. 17.
Michigan State jumped Arkansas, obviously, and slid up to No. 17 after picking up the win, just ahead of No. 18 North Carolina who beat No. 19 Kansas in the opening week of hoops. The Spartans will play North Carolina later this month in what should be a heck of a showdown during Thanksgiving weekend.
The Spartans will also play the No. 4 (Duke) and No. 9 (Kentucky) teams over the next month along with No. 18 North Carolina. Talk about a gauntlet of a non-conference slate.