Is the Michigan State men’s basketball team’s recent ranking fair?

There is a lot of uncertainty ahead of the 2024–25 Michigan State University basketball season.

With last year’s leading scorers gone, younger players taking on more prominent roles, two new additions and a highly anticipated class of rookies coming in, Coach Tom Izzo’s next team will look very different.

However, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, the Spartans will improve in terms of ranking from last year.

However, his ranking is still a bit low for them.

In his latest Bracketology predictions, Lunardi projects Michigan State as the 7th seed to play 10th seed Dayton in the Midwest.

In total, Lunardi has nine Big Ten teams in the tournament, including Purdue, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, UCLA, USC, Rutgers and Ohio State. Purdue and Indiana are the top seeds, the Boilermakers are the No. 4 seed in the Midwest and Indiana is the No. 4 seed in the South.

Given the unpredictability of the Spartans and the addition of four new Big Ten teams, Lunardi’s prediction for Izzo’s team seems fair.

The Spartans play in one of the most demanding college basketball leagues and lack experience. The only truly experienced players they have are guard Jaden Akins and center Carson Cooper, both of whom have yet to find their full potential.

You could say that transfer wing Frankie Fidler has a lot of experience, but he has never played in a Power Five conference, let alone on a team that has high expectations year after year.

So, yes, at this point, Lunardi’s prediction is valid. And in fact, you could even consider it a bit far-fetched.

Izzo has proven he can go deep into the tournament with any roster, so I’m not ruling this team out by any means. Right now, there’s just not enough to tell me this 2024-25 team can move on from the disappointing seasons of the past few years.

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