Michigan State basketball got the best draw it could’ve hoped for

Michigan State basketball got the 9-seed in the West Region which happened to be the best draw it could’ve asked for.

Michigan State basketball found out its NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday, and the Spartans earned the 9-seed in the West Region. There were a lot of unknowns going into Selection Sunday, most notably if the Spartans would even hear their name called, but now that we know MSU is in, we can dive into its region of the bracket and upcoming path in the tournament.

After analyzing the Spartans’ region, it turns out they got a pretty favorable draw.

MSU got a very favorable tournament draw

• Worst 1-seed

Since Michigan State is a 9-seed, the 1-seed in their region is extremely important. If MSU can beat Mississippi State in the opening round, it would undoubtedly face the 1-seed. That one seed just so happens to be the weakest 1-seed in this year’s tournament.

Don’t get me wrong, North Carolina is an extremely good team. The Tar Heels are the ACC regular season champions and have a strong resume. But if I had to pick which 1-seed to get paired with, this is who I would’ve selected.

Houston and UConn would’ve been nightmare matchups for the Spartans, and Purdue has already proven to be better than MSU twice. So even though playing any 1-seed isn’t fun, the Spartans did get the most favorable one in their region.

• Potential rematches

Let’s assume Michigan State does get by both Mississippi State and North Carolina and into the Sweet 16, who could MSU play next? The other high seeds in their region are teams they are already familiar with.

Arizona is the 2-seed and Baylor is the 3-seed in their region, two teams Michigan State has already played. Having that experience, whether they won the first game or not, is huge, especially for a coach like Tom Izzo. He knows how to adjust and can out-coach almost anyone, so I would give him a slight edge in any rematch the Spartans could face in the tournament.

• Location

The location is the one thing that you could argue went against Michigan State with their draw, but I don’t think it’s all that bad. The Spartans are in the West Region, but their first two games would be on the East Coast. MSU’s (potential) first two games will be in Charlotte, N.C., which all things considered isn’t that far of a trip for the fanbase to make. Yes, it’s a disadvantage to play North Carolina in their home state, but the travel distance could’ve been much worse.

The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight are in Los Angeles for the Spartans’ region, which is quite a distance away. But looking at the other teams in their region, nobody else is that close to Los Angeles either. A potential Sweet 16 opponent for Michigan State basketball is Saint Mary’s who is from California, but I’m not confident it’ll make it that far in the tournament anyway. The only other team nearby is Arizona, but that still isn’t a short trip either. The Spartans also wouldn’t play the Wildcats until the Elite Eight, so maybe they won’t even make it that far.

At the end of the day, most Spartan fans are probably just happy to be in the tournament. But when you dive into Michigan State’s draw, I think there’s a lot to be happy about. When Tom Izzo is your coach, anything is possible. So the time, location, and opponent really don’t matter.