Now that the roster is set with the decisions of Jeremy Fears and Anton Bonke in the rearview mirror, Michigan State can now look ahead to the 2026-27 season and set sights on a national title run.
Michigan State will have one of the best rosters in college basketball and it’s now considered one of the top national title contenders by FanDuel, but the schedule that the Spartans are facing might just hold them back from earning a coveted 1-seed next March.
After glancing at FanDuel’s updated national title odds for 2026-27 after the NBA draft deadline, something really stood out to me: Michigan State is facing a lot of elite teams.
I quickly took note of the fact that four of the top five title contenders are on Michigan State’s schedule. As if that’s not enough, the Spartans will be facing seven of the top 12 favorites. Obviously odds are just Vegas opinions and they move based on the number of bets that come in but they also hold plenty of weight when talking about the best teams in college basketball.
Vegas is rarely off by much so if they say that Duke, Michigan, UConn, and Illinois are all top five teams, I guess we kind of have to believe that until the preseason AP Top 25 comes out.
Michigan State is also set to face Tennessee (tied for 8th-best odds), Gonzaga (tied for 12th), and Arkansas (tied for 12th). The Spartans just added Rick Barns’ Volunteers to the schedule and they’ll be going down to Knoxville for that one, they’ll have Gonzaga in Palm Springs in December, and Arkansas is returning to Michigan to face MSU in Detroit.
Talk about an elite schedule.
Early predictions for MIchigan State in these games
It’s way too early to really know what each of these teams is going to bring to the table, but at least we know what Michigan State will have.
So let me give my best educated predictions for those seven matchups against top national title contenders next season.
- Duke (Champions Classic): L
- Michigan (two meetings): 1-1
- UConn (exhibition): W
- Illinois (in Champaign): W
- Tennessee (in Knoxville): L
- Gonzaga (Palm Springs): W
- Arkansas (Detroit): W
In those eight games against seven of the top 12 national title contenders, I believe Michigan State will go 5-3. Maybe that’s a little too optimistic, but I think the Spartans are good enough to win each of the games on their schedule. However, winning in Champaign, in Knoxville, and at three neutral site locations won’t be easy.
A 5-3 record in those games should have MSU in great shape come March.
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