Michigan State’s Path to a Big Ten Regular Season Title

The Michigan State Spartans have set themselves an opportunity to win the Big Ten regular season title for the first time since the 2019-2020 season.

The Spartans are tied for first place in the Big Ten standings with a 13-3 record in conference play. The Green and White are even with Michigan and have a two-game lead over Purdue, Wisconsin and Maryland.

With four games remaining, Michigan State needs to take care of business in order to hang another banner.

Here are a few potential scenarios for the Spartans' final games of the regular season:

4-0 Finish

The Spartans control their own density after an emotional road victory over the Michigan Wolverines on Friday. This means that if they go undefeated in their last four games, they automatically clinch the top spot in the Big Ten.

Michigan State will face three ranked teams in its last four contests and if Tom Izzo’s team were to win out, it would boost their NCAA Tournament seeding. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently projects the Spartans to be a 2-seed in March Madness.

A 17-3 conference record would break the program record for most conference wins in a season. The Spartans won 16 conference games in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019.

3-1 Finish

Even with a 3-1 finish to the regular season, the Spartans can still be solo champions of the Big Ten regular season. As long as they beat Michigan at the Breslin Center in the regular season finale, they can afford a loss to Maryland, Wisconsin or Iowa.

If Michigan State was to fall to Michigan at home on March 9, the door would be open for the Wolverines to win the conference.

If Michigan finishes the season 5-0 and Michigan State closes with a 3-1 record, they would tie with a conference record of 16-4. However, there are no tiebreakers when it comes to the Big Ten regular season champion, so in this scenario, the rivals would be co-Big Ten regular season champions.

The Spartans shared their 2019 and 2020 regular season titles with other Big Ten foes. The last time Michigan and Michigan State shared a conference championship was in 2012, when both squads went 13-5 alongside Ohio State.

2-2 Finish

If the Spartans split their last four games, the top of the Big Ten standings would get messy. This would bring the group of teams into a tie for third place in the discussion. Purdue, Wisconsin and Maryland are all two games back of Michigan State for first place with a record of 11-5.

This group of chasers would need both Michigan programs to lose two games down the stretch to have a shot at the title.

Maryland has the best opportunity to cause chaos, as the Wolverines and the Spartans still remain on its schedule. Even if they beat both teams at the top of the standings, the Terrapins would still need each team to drop another game.

If the Spartans finish with a 2-2 record, they would close with a 15-5 record. Even with a disappointing finish, all Michigan State needs is to beat Michigan and have the Wolverines drop another game down the stretch to close at 3-2.

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