Michigan State has yet to play a game this week, yet the Spartans are apparently sliding.
Joe Lunardi has been updating his bracketology every single night, and Michigan State has been hovering somewhere around the No. 13 overall range as of Feb. 23, but fast forward a couple of days and Michigan State is on the way down.
While it’s not a huge slide, it does show that Michigan State is going to have some work to do in these final two weeks of the regular season if it’s going to garner any respect.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) February 25, 2026
Michigan State moved down a spot to make room for a Virginia team that just beat NC State on Tuesday night. Virginia did beat Tre Holloman’s Wolfpack by 29 points so the move up might be warranted, but Michigan State shouldn’t be below the Cavaliers, in my opinion. The ACC is very weak this season with Virginia being the only team that has a chance to challenge Duke.
Tom Izzo and the Spartans are going to have to show up in a big way on Thursday night in West Lafayette if they’re going to hold on to that 4-seed. They may still hold on if they lose, but they’ll likely be up to a 3-seed with a win.
Respect is earned, and Michigan State hasn’t done enough over the past three weeks to get any.
Opportunity is there for Michigan State
Izzo is facing a ton of opportunities over the next couple of weeks, starting with the Purdue game on Thursday night at Mackey. That’ll be one of the toughest games of the season for this team, but the Spartans have proven that they can hang with just about anyone.
After Purdue, Michigan State will head down the road to Bloomington to face a pesky Indiana team. That could be another solid win for this team.
Following that two-game trip to the Hoosier State, Michigan State will return to Michigan to end the season. It’ll face Rutgers one more time and then close the season in Ann Arbor against the No. 3 Wolverines who just captured at least a share of the Big Ten title on Tuesday.
Opportunity is knocking. Will the Spartans answer?