Entering the week, Michigan State was facing some fairly harsh criticism following an ugly home win over Ohio State and bracketologists were equally harsh on Tom Izzo and the Spartans, slotting them in as a 4-seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
It was a tough reality to face considering they weren’t wrong. Michigan State was playing more like a 4-seed over the previous couple of weeks than the previously-projected 2-seed that we saw before that Michigan loss on Jan. 30.
The few weeks following that loss resulted in poor preparedness against teams that it should have no problem beating (Rutgers, Minnesota) and slow starts to some key games.
The Spartans turned the corner this past week, however. They went into West Lafeyette and beat Purdue at Mackey for the first time since 2014 and then traveled down to Bloomington to beat Indiana at Assembly Hall a few days later. The Spartans haven’t done both of those in the same year in over a decade. It’s been a while.
Bracketologists and college basketball experts have paid attention, and they’re impressed.
Respected CBB experts see Michigan State as a 2-seed
Some respected college basketball experts who usually aren’t wrong about much made predictions following the Spartans’ win over Indiana on Sunday.
You can't have a much better week than what Michigan State just did in two tough road games. Away wins over Purdue and IU in the span of three days is really difficult to do.
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) March 1, 2026
Michigan State was a 2-seed last year, and there's an argument that this year's team is more complete.
Michigan State wins AT Indiana. Sweeps the trip to the state!
— T3™️ (@T3Bracketology) March 1, 2026
Spartans needed road wins, it got them. Big results and shot it well from the outside today.
Michigan State is very likely up to a 2 seed now. Indiana is more in a next 4 out range. Need a 2-0 week + multiple BTT…
Hearing this type of praise from the above experts should make Spartan fans feel much better about this team’s odds in March. The early worry was that Michigan State was going to be a 4-seed and there was talk of a 5-seed if it lost to both Purdue and Indiana this week, but after sweeping those road games in the Hoosier State, it’s going to see a big jump.
Some bracketologists (cough, cough Joe Lunardi) had Michigan State as a 4-seed after the Purdue win and it gaslit a lot of us into believing that the Spartans were nothing better than a 4.
A lot of experts who live by the numbers are saying Michigan State is a “likely” 2-seed. I think it would take a win over Michigan to really solidify that, and no slip-up against Rutgers.
Just win and everything will take care of itself.