Tom Izzo has the Michigan State basketball team ready to rock this season with plenty of returners and newcomers.
The Michigan State men’s basketball team is gearing up for a season where they are expected to accomplish many great things. They are coming off of a Sweet Sixteen loss to the eventual runner-up the UConn Huskies. They are returning a lot of key contributors from that team including, but not limited to, Jesse McCulloch, Kur Teng, Cam Ward, Coen Carr and of course Jeremy Fears Jr. Some of their losses include the frontcourt between Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler but they added Anton Bonke out of the transfer portal and have a seven-foot-two freshman center in Ethan Taylor. Lots of talent on this Spartans team and an all-time great head coach has them picked to finish extremely high in the Big Ten, but not all the way at the top.
The Columbus Dispatch conducted a preseason poll for the Big Ten conference standings and Michigan State was picked to finish second in the conference. The only team that received more first-place votes than the Spartans was the Illinois Fighting Illini. Brad Underwood’s squad has brought in an excellent recruiting class and retained key players such as the Ivisic brothers, Andrej Stojakovic and David Mirkovic. Those two teams should be competing for the Big Ten crown throughout the entire season especially since Dusty May left Michigan for the NBA and Purdue is going through a transition without Braden Smith and Trey Kaufmann-Renn leading the team. Michigan was the only other team to receive a first place vote in the poll.
The Columbus Dispatch’s poll included votes from 28 Big Ten media members and the results looked like this. First place votes are marked in parenthesis:
- Illinois (18)
- Michigan State (9)
- Michigan (1)
- UCLA
- Nebraska
- Purdue
- USC
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Wisconsin
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Oregon
- Washington
- Northwestern
- Rutgers
- Penn State
Illinois and Michigan State are the heavy favorites entering the season with the immense level of coaching, talent, roster retention and overall history with these two programs. Illinois is coming off of a Final Four loss to UConn so they might have higher expectations than Michigan State but the Spartans are looking to get back on top while Michigan and Purdue restructure. Jeremy Fears Jr. is the playmaker and key contributor for MSU as he already has plenty of accolades to his name. He was recently named Preseason National Player of the Year by Blue Ribbon College Basketball as he looks to only get better. Fears’ connection with Coen Carr should continue to light the Breslin Center on fire with Fears’ passing ability and Carr’s pure athleticism. Tom Izzo is a hall of fame level head coach who will have any team he coaches playing above their floor.
The Spartans and Fighting Illini will be duking it out all season to see who will hoist the Big Ten crown. Of course other teams will have their say if Mike Boynton works out at Michigan or if Matt Painter is able to replace Braden Smith and Trey Kaufmann-Renn. UCLA is always a solid program with Mick Cronin and they have plenty of talent and Nebraska is riding high off of a great season last year. The Big Ten should be a competitive conference this year in basketball. When Illinois comes to East Lansing in February it will be a heavyweight showdown.
