Michigan State basketball becomes highest-ranked Big Ten team

After what can only be considered a dominant road win over Northwestern, Michigan State basketball improved to 14-2 on the season.

With the win, Michigan State is now 5-0 in the Big Ten and has won nine straight games. The Spartans and rival Michigan Wolverines are the only undefeated teams left in conference play but it felt like Michigan State wasn’t ranked accordingly.

Now it is.

Following the 34-point drubbing of Washington on Thursday night and the 10-point road win over Northwestern on Sunday, Michigan State jumped in the latest AP Top 25 poll to No. 12. That was a four-spot jump which felt warranted as well as overdue but it now makes the Spartans the highest-ranked team in the Big Ten in the middle of January with three-fourths of the Big Ten season to go.

The other teams ranked in the latest AP Top 25 (but who are below Michigan State obviously) are:

• No. 13 Oregon
• No. 17 Purdue
• No. 19 Illinois
• No. 20 Michigan
• No. 24 Wisconsin

UCLA was just dropped from the rankings after a week in which they lost to Michigan and Maryland and it looks like they’re losing some of the steam they had a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Maryland, Nebraska, Iowa, or Indiana in the rankings in the coming weeks, but right now, Michigan State is one of six Big Ten teams in the poll as well as the highest-ranked.

As for the NET rankings, the Spartans are third in the conference but they’re also in the top 10 there.

The NCAA Tournament resume is looking good for Michigan State basketball with about 1.5 months left to play in the regular season and if it can win half its road games in the conference (two more) and all of its home games, we may be seeing another banner in the rafters.