Three weeks ago, Michigan State went into West Lafayette and beat a top-10 Purdue team at Mackey Arena for the first time in 12 years. Tom Izzo and the Spartans then carried that momentum over into a win over Indiana at Assembly Hall.
Those two wins had Michigan State projected as a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament with just two regular-season games left. A win over Rutgers just solidified it, and going back-and-forth with Michigan in Ann Arbor seemed to “lock in” a 2-seed for the Spartans. Sure, a win in the Big Ten Tournament would essentially guarantee it, but it didn’t seem to be a necessity.
Michigan State lost to UCLA in the quarterfinals and immediately got rumored as a line-dropper in the latest bracketology.
We didn’t think the committee would finally value the Big Ten Tournament title as Purdue beat Michigan in Sunday’s championship game, but for the first time ever, they did. Purdue flipped with Michigan State as the 2-seed while the Spartans got the 3-seed in the East.
Tom Izzo approves of Purdue getting the 2-seed
It was rather shocking and controversial, considering Purdue had a losing record over its final month of the regular season and lost the head-to-head with Michigan State at home, but the committee judged the Boilermakers more on their preseason expectations and a Big Ten Tournament title rather than the entire 20-game conference slate.
Izzo admitted, however, that he’s OK with the committee’s decision and that Purdue “100%” deserved it.
Izzo says he "100%" feels Purdue deserved to be a 2-seed for how it finished the Big Ten Tournament title. "I have no problems with it. To be the last 2 or the first 3, it does make a difference. But if you get through the 1st weekend, 2s are playing 3s & 3s are playing 2s."
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) March 16, 2026
Izzo said that he has “no problems with” the fact that Purdue got the 2-seed over Michigan State despite the Spartans winning the head-to-head just a few short weeks ago.
I can respect that take because he’s right. There’s not much difference between getting the 2-seed and the 3-seed because if you make it past the first weekend, the twos are playing the threes. The problem I have, however, is the fact that Michigan State dropped to the 3-seed in the toughest region and could have been a 2-seed in a very winnable region.
If Izzo’s good with it, we should all be good with it.