Heading into a match-up against the league’s quasi-perennial penultimate in Penn State, Michigan State basketball was a bubble team. If the Spartans were to lose to PSU, they’d fall from around #10 seed line to #11 or #12 territory. In other words, Dayton land and nobody wants to go there.
Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo obviously did a great job motivating his team because they came out and did exactly what they needed to do, and they OBLITERATED Penn State 78-51.
This was the largest margin of victory ever in a B1G Tournament game in Michigan State basketball history. It now puts Sparty is 5-8 against the RPI top 50, 19-13 overall with a SoS of 10 and a RPI of 49. We currently have MSU a #9 seed in our latest bracket projection, taking on Virginia Tech in Buffalo.
While this is not your older brother’s State team by any regard, and this resume is a lot weaker than in years past, they do have aa body of work to be proud of. MSU is #41 in Pomeroy and #42 in Sagarin with a few solid wins.
Their best victories include Wisconsin (RPI 39) Minnesota (RPI 20) twice and Wichita State (27).
The losses to Baylor (RPI 6), Arizona (RPI 9), Kentucky (RPI 7) Purdue (RPI 19) twice and Duke (RPI 14) gives this Michigan State basketball squad a real advantage in the “well who have you played” argument over most tier-above-the-bubble teams.
They do have a few eye sore losses though- at Indiana (RPI 79, this is a major reason why the league is so down, it’s very rare to see both Indiana and Michigan State basketball not among the elite at the very same time like this), Penn State (RPI 93, hence losing today would have truly been disastrous) and Northeastern (RPI 140).
They’ll take on Minnesota again, which is obviously a great match-up for them, tomorrow at 2:30 EST in the B1G Quarterfinals.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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