Michigan State basketball picks up an unconventional Quad 1 win

Michigan State basketball retroactively added a Quad 1 win to the resume with Maryland moving up inside the top 75 in the NET.

With Selection Sunday fast approaching, it’s more important now than ever before for Michigan State basketball to start improving its resume. Thankfully the Spartans did just that after wins against Illinois and their 80-72 road win over Penn State.

I’m sure you’ve read countless times this season about the NET rankings and the importance of Quad 1 wins. This is some of the main criteria the selection committee uses when selecting and seeding teams. Thankfully for MSU, they just earned a fourth Quad one win in an unconventional way.

For clarity sake, a Quad 1 win looks at your opponents NET ranking and is defined as playing a top 30 team at home, a top 50 team at a neutral site and a top 75 team on the road. Usually when MSU earns a Quad 1 wins, we know about it heading into the game based on that team’s current NET ranking. The latest example of this was MSU’s win over Illinois which was their third Quad 1 win of the season.

The Spartans’ win against Penn State was Quad 2, so where did this fourth Quad 1 win come from?

Michigan State earns their fourth Quad 1 win

The first three Quad 1 wins this season were against Baylor, Indiana State, and Illinois. The mysterious fourth Quad 1 win is now coming from the road win over Maryland.

A few weeks ago, the Spartans beat Maryland on the road which at the time was a Quad 2 win. However, the quadrant system works on a rolling basis, so previous games can move up and down the quadrant system daily. Maryland has continued to play well since MSU beat the Terps, and they are now the No. 75 team in the NET rankings. This turns the Quad 2 road win against them into a Quad 1 victory.

Since this system is on a rolling basis, this likely will change in the future. But if you needed a reason to cheer for another team, this is that reason. Maryland continuing to win only helps MSU’s resume, so we want to see the Terps finish strong. Another team we want to see finish strong is Indiana State. They’re No. 29 in the NET rankings and they need to stay in the top 30 for that win to qualify as a Quad 1 win. MSU’s wins over Baylor and Illinois are not in danger of being downgraded, but the other two could any day. So we really want to see Indiana State and Maryland finish strong.

Does MSU have any remaining Quad 1 games?

The Spartans only have one Quad 1 game left on their schedule. That is when they travel to Purdue on Mar. 2. I don’t think we count on beating them, so that’s why it’s important MSU’s four Quad 1 wins stay in that category.

There’s a chance Michigan State basketball could get more opportunities in the Big Ten Tournament, but we won’t know about those until the tournament begins.

Every other regular-season game left on the schedule is a Quad 2 game. Those are also important to win as well, but losing one or two of them won’t tank the Spartans’ resume. But if MSU can keep stacking Quad 2 wins, their resume would improve in a hurry.

The Spartans’ next game is against their bitter rival Michigan on Saturday. This is a Quad 2 opportunity and unfortunately doesn’t have a chance to move up to Quad 1. But does that even matter? It is Michigan at the end of the day, and I want to beat them bad regardless of how much it will help MSU’s metrics.