For the first time since the 2015-16 season, Michigan State women's basketball is 10-0 to start the year. That hot start has been good enough to push the Spartans up to No. 15 in the latest rankings.
The Spartans have been one of the best teams in the country this season and a big reason for all this success has been Robyn Fralick. They have beaten three power conference teams in the last four games, including a win over No. 21 Iowa at home.
Is this a team that could contend for a national title? I think that may be a little premature because Fralick is still getting her players in place but I think they're a year away.
But I'd love to be proven wrong.
The Spartans are on fire this season and have beaten Vanderbilt, Cal, and Iowa over the past couple of weeks and they're the fourth-highest-ranked Big Ten team through the first month and a half of the season. They're behind only UCLA (1), Maryland (8), and Ohio State (11) and they're ahead of Michigan (20), Iowa (22), and Nebraska (23).
Fralick has done a really good job in her one-plus season in East Lansing and it feels like she's turning the program into a legit winner almost overnight. The Big Ten title is in play this season but UCLA will be tough to beat as the No. 1 team in the country.
Michigan State will face Montana and a tough Alabama team to close out conference play before opening up Big Ten action again with No. 8 Maryland in January.
This is a prove-it time for the women's hoops team.