Michigan State is out of the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1.
Again.
That’s the Monday morning headline after the Spartans lost 88-74 at Northwestern on Sunday. It means Michigan State is now 9-6 overall, 1-3 in the Big Ten.
Is it time for MSU fans to panic?
No, not quite yet. But it’s totally reasonable to be concerned.
“I’m embarrassed, as a Michigan State Spartan, [with] the way we played,” said Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, a Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer who has coached the Spartans to a record 25 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament. “As everybody knows, I’m a big [Northwestern coach] Chris Collins fan. … He got his team ready to play, and I didn’t get my team ready to play.”
It should be noted that Purdue also lost at Northwestern this season, and that Purdue is No. 1 in Monday morning’s updated Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the 22nd consecutive day. So there’s nothing inherently shameful about losing at Northwestern. The bigger problem is that Michigan State now has six losses in 15 outings, and three of those losses are to schools outside of the top 50 of the NET. Put another way, MSU is now 1-5 in Quadrant-1 opportunities with a neutral-court victory over Baylor serving as the only great thing on the resume.
Is that streak of 25 straight NCAA Tournament appearances in jeopardy?
By definition, sure.
But, on that note, I’m compelled to remind you that it was just three years ago when Michigan State started 10-9 overall, 4-9 in the Big Ten — and still made the NCAA Tournament with a 15-11 record. So is it time to panic? Again, no, if only because we’ve been here with the Spartans before, and recently. But, absolutely, yeah, it’s totally reasonable to be concerned heading into Thursday’s game at Illinois, where a loss would drop the Spartans to 1-4 in the Big Ten and thus make it more difficult than it’s already going to be to extend one of sports’ best streaks.
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Top 25 And 1 rankings
In: Texas Tech | Out: Michigan State
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