Are you paying close attention? Heading into the final week of Big Ten play, the Michigan State Spartans find themselves at 24-5 overall and 14-4 in the conference. ESPN's Joe Lunardi had the Spartans as a No. 2 seed in Tuesday's Bracketology update. While winning the Big Ten Tournament could conceivably improve their seeding, Tom Izzo's team must recognize one potential weakness.
No, it is not by much, but this could come back to haunt the Spartans in crucial stages of the NCAA Tournament. For as strong as they are on defense, Michigan State does not do a great job of forcing turnovers. They are only averaging 5.2 steals per game defensively, which ranks 330th in the nation. Couple that with the Spartans being great at scoring in transition, and it could be a tinge problematic.
Michigan State shoots the ball well and is so dominant on the glass that this may not matter in the end. However, if the Spartans are trailing a high-quality team in either postseason tournament of note, this could be an issue if their shots are not falling for whatever reason. How good is this team at coming from behind? Michigan State might need to be more aggressive on defense in crucial spots.
If they do this in the Big Ten Tournament, there is still a decent chance of them getting a No. 1 seed.
Michigan State might need to become more opportunistic on defense
Look. Whatever Michigan State is doing on the defensive end of the floor under Izzo's guidance is working. It has contributed to their impressive 8-5 record in Quad 1 games. Michigan State is an unblemished 16-0 in non-Quad 1 games. This goes to show that only high-quality teams have a shot at beating Michigan State. When your team has a great coach like Izzo, it is so hard to knock them off.
So what does a lack of steals really tell us about this Michigan State team? It seems as though the Spartans would rather force the opposition into taking questionable shots and cleaning up on the glass to create more possessions. That has worked vs. most teams, but it may not work vs. everyone. What if the other team shoots lights-out from long range, and Michigan State cannot buy a basket?
This is how deficits are created. Michigan State is built to bully the opposition and make them play an uncomfortable brand of basketball. However, if a team with great shooters out on the perimeter gets hot, it may not matter for Michigan State. To this point, the Spartans have not shown a proclivity when it comes to taking advantage of any inherently reckless offensive team. Do they have it in the them?
The good news is this flaw is not really an obvious bottleneck, so it may not ever really come to that.