Michigan State basketball rises to a 6-seed in latest bracketology

While we’re in the final stretch of football season with a bowl game on the line, many fans have turned their attention to Michigan State basketball, and how could you not? The Spartans seem to be better than expected despite losing to No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday.

Tom Izzo has returned some excitement to the program with a couple of transfers and a star freshman who has been a pleasant surprise.

ALSO READ: 5 reasons for optimism after loss to No. 1 Kansas

On top of that, the Spartans have an exciting non-conference schedule that already featured the No. 1 team in the country but could also see Michigan State facing UConn or North Carolina in the Maui Invitational.

Michigan State began the season unranked and had minimal expectations, but it’s starting to look like that’s going to change. The team has played well outside of 3-point shooting and the Spartans are 2-1, receiving the sixth-most votes of teams just outside the AP Top 25 this week. Also, Joe Lunardi had Michigan State slotted in as an 8-seed to begin the season, pretty much flirting with the bubble yet again, but on Tuesday (before the Kansas game), he bumped the Spartans up to a 6-seed in his bracketology.

While it’s still very early, it’s a good sign that experts are seeing something in this team. While the 6-seed projection was before the Kansas loss, I can bet that it won’t change much, if at all, when he comes out with his new bracketology next week. All experts picked Michigan State to lose.

How good are the teams on the 6-seed line? For reference, Kentucky, Florida, and Illinois were all 6-seeds as well and Michigan State had a “trending up” arrow next to its name.

Other Big Ten teams to earn spots in the early bracketology were:

No. 4: Purdue (trending down)
No. 5: Indiana, Ohio State (trending up)
No. 6: Illinois (trending up)
No. 7: UCLA (trending down)
No. 8: Oregon
No. 10: Rutgers (last four byes)
No. 11: Michigan (trending down, last four in), Maryland

Lunardi has 10 teams in his field with Iowa, Wisconsin, and USC all on the bubble and being either the first four out or the next four out.

In this scenario, Michigan State basketball would be the fourth or fifth-best Big Ten team and one of the three that are trending up. The Spartans have a legit shot to win the Big Ten this year and finally get into the NCAA Tournament comfortably again.