Prominent bracketologist predicts Big Ten rival will steal Michigan State’s 2-seed

We are nearing ever-closer to Sunday’s Selection Show and that means Michigan State fans will be sweating out either a 2-seed or a 3-seed.

After losing in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday night, a 3-seed wouldn’t be all that shocking. Michigan State likely needed to beat the Bruins in order to lock up a 2-seed, but losing that game while giving up 88 points was not ideal. Obviously UCLA is a tournament team which helps, but that was a game that could’ve put any 2-seed doubt to rest.

Instead, we now have prominent bracketologists predicting that Michigan State will drop to a 3-seed.

In fact, arguably the most well-known bracketologist — Joe Lunardi — who has had Michigan State as a 2-seed ever since that win in Bloomington over Indiana has since dropped the Spartans to that 3-line in order to make room for Purdue who has won three Big Ten Tournament games and will be playing Michigan on Sunday afternoon for the title.

I’m not so sure that I trust this listing because Iowa State could be behind the Spartans in the overall listing. The Spartans were Lunardi’s seventh-best team on Friday, and now Iowa State and Purdue both jumped Michigan State despite the former losing in the same round (quarterfinal) of the Big 12 Tournament.

It also wouldn’t shock me in the slightest to see Michigan State on the 3-line on Sunday night after that UCLA loss because it feels like the Spartans are seeded too low every year.

Michigan State can’t complain about a 3-seed

While a 2-seed would obviously be ideal, the Spartans can’t complain if they do get the 3-seed instead because of the fact that they lost a must-win game in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. You can’t lose your opening game and expect nothing to happen.

I do believe that Michigan State has a 2-seed resume with wins over Arkansas, North Carolina (at full strength), Kentucky, Purdue, and Illinois. They also probably should have held on against Duke in December, and splitting the series with Michigan would have probably put them in the 1-seed conversation.

If Michigan State didn’t want to be in danger of earning a 3-seed instead of a 2-seed, it probably should have taken care of Minnesota or UCLA or Nebraska.

No complains about a 3-seed from me, but obvious a 2 would be ideal.