Jay Bilas Is A Buyer On The #8 Michigan State Spartans

Jay Bilas Is A Buyer On The #8 Michigan State Spartans

Breslin Center

East Lansing, MI 

The newly #8 ranked Michigan State Spartans beat up and beat down their arch-rival the #12 Michigan Wolverines on Sunday. That improves the men in green’s season record to 12-3 (4-0). The Spartans vs. Wolverines finished with a final score of 87-69. 

The best color commentator in college basketball is Jay Bilas. He released his Bilas index 2.0 (You can read the entire rankings here,) and he had this to say about the Spartans: 

4. Michigan State Spartans

The Spartans will not win the title if they play like they did in the first 13 games. But, Michigan State can and will get significantly better, and if the performance against Illinois is any indication, the Spartans are in the hunt. The pieces are there, the experience in current roles is not, but it's growing. Preseason expectations of the players on this roster were not off; the value of the players lost from last year's team was way off. Losing Kenny Goins, Matt McQuaid and Nick Ward was a huge deal and left a void in toughness, communication, defense and the understanding of what it takes to win. Michigan State will still get there, but the contributions of those players, who led the Spartans to the Final Four, was taken a bit for granted. 

Cassius Winston suffered an unspeakable tragedy, Josh Langford was lost for the year to injury and Aaron Henry struggled early in an expected star's role. Plus, Michigan State has played a very difficult schedule, with a more difficult Big Ten slate ahead. The Spartans are No. 4 in The Bilas Index based upon what they will be, not just on what they are right now. Yet, what they are right now is pretty darn good. 

The team will return to the hard-court Thursday, January 9, 2020, at the Breslin Center against Minnesota. That game can be seen on ESPN at 9:00 PM. 

The Spartans open Big Ten play 4-0 as previously mentioned. They are winning conference games by a 14 point margin on average.

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