”Impressive” isn’t quite the word anyone would use to describe Michigan State basketball’s win over Oakland on Saturday afternoon in Detroit, but if you’re Tom Izzo, you take the win.
Facing Oakland every year is one of Izzo’s favorite matchups, but he even admits that he can’t sleep the night before this game. It’s probably because he knows that he’s going to get a tough battle from his good friend Greg Kampe because this is a dogfight seemingly every season. Oakland is always giving Michigan State its best shot.
That was no different on Saturday afternoon as the Golden Grizzlies got off to a nice start thanks to strong 3-point shooting, but Michigan State settled in, took the lead, and never looked back.
Oakland made things interesting a few times, cutting the Spartans’ lead to 6-8 points in the final 10 minutes, but Michigan State wasn’t fazed, extending the lead to 11 before a silly foul with 20 seconds left made it a single-digit win for the Spartans.
Any bettor who jumped all over Michigan State -20.5 before the game probably had never watched a Spartans vs. Golden Grizzlies matchup in their lives.
The win wasn’t all that impressive, and it could cause AP voters to drop the spots on Monday.
Michigan State basketball will still be a top-10 team
Despite the ugliness in the win, AP voters aren’t going to judge this one too harshly if they know the history of this series with Oakland. That’s asking a lot from voters, though.
Looking at the rankings before Monday’s update, I’d be shocked if the Spartans dropped to No. 10 and I’d be floored if they were completely taken out of the top 10.
Where do I see Michigan State being ranked in the new poll? I’d have to go with No. 9 once again. BYU didn’t do enough to jump the Spartans and the only teams right behind Michigan State that could leap over it would be Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, and North Carolina, but the Commodores only beat Wake Forest, we all know why the Tar Heels won’t jump Izzo’s team, and the Red Raiders aren’t jumping 10-plus spots.
Duke is going to drop a bit after losing to Texas Tech, but it will probably be 2-3 spots seeing as it was by just one point on a neutral floor. Plus, Duke holds a head-to-head advantage over Michigan State.
So because of all these factors, I’m sticking with Michigan State at No. 9 yet again.