Why Preseason Hype Suits MSU More Than 3 Years Ago
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There is a ton of preseason hype to go around in East Lansing right now.
Michigan State basketball is pretty much in the top-10 on every person's early rankings right now. That hasn't been quite as common as it used to be. The Spartans were ranked No. 22 in last season's preseason AP Poll, and they were unranked to start the season before that.
You have to go back to the 2023-24 season to find an MSU squad with this much preseason hype. Michigan State started the year ranked fourth in the country. It ended up bowing out of the second round of the NCAA Tournament that season as a 9-seed, falling well short of expectations.
There are a few reasons not to worry much about that sort of season happening this time. Here's why:
Proven Winners
The biggest reason to think this is that this version of the Spartans has a core that has proven it can play at a high level over the course of a season. The program has just built up a lot more actual momentum over the last two seasons than it had the years before the 2023-24 season.
Just look at the NCAA Tournament results. MSU has been a 2-seed and a 3-seed the last two years during March Madness. During the three years before 2024, the Spartans were a 7-seed twice and an 11-seed once. Objectively, it had been several years of mediocrity by the program's standards.
A big reason why Michigan State got so much hype before that '23-24 campaign was the March Madness run in 2023. The Spartans upset second-seeded Marquette in the second round and then barely lost in the Sweet Sixteen to 3-seed Kansas State. If MSU had won that game, it would've been Dusty May's Florida Atlantic standing in the way between it and the Final Four. That's quite winnable by Elite Eight standards.
Just like 2022-23 team, the 2025-26 team lost in a very tight game in the Sweet Sixteen. This loss was to 2-seed UConn, though. The Huskies wound up reaching the national title game and had a lot more firepower and prestige than Marquette or Kansas State back in '23. It was just a much worse draw, overall -- top overall seed Duke was waiting in the Elite Eight.
Returning players like Jeremy Fears Jr. and Coen Carr were pieces on a team that won a Big Ten title two seasons ago. It's not the ultimate prize, but there is a banner that will forever be in the Breslin Center rafters because of that.
The core of the 2023-24 squad hadn't won anything that substantive. The Fears and Carr era has brought more fruit already than the Tyson Walker and A.J. Hoggard era.
Incoming Freshmen Classes
One of the other commonalities between these two teams is the elite recruiting classes. This year's incoming class is ranked fifth in the country on 247Sports. The class back in 2023 was ranked at the same spot.
Both of those classes were or are both contributing factors to preseason hype. The '23 class was headlined by 5-star recruit Xavier Booker, who was the highest-rated recruit Michigan State had gotten since Jaren Jackson Jr. in the class of 2017. It was also Fears and Carr's true freshman years. Gehrig Normand redshirted.
This season's class should be a bit more ready-made. There was a bit of bad luck that isn't super replicable. Booker didn't live up to his 5-star billing. Fears missed the main portion of the season after he got shot in the leg during winter break. Carr was still a pretty raw prospect who was still figuring out how to best use his athleticism.
Michigan State shouldn't really deal with that next season. None of the Spartans' prospects are going to deal with as much pressure as Booker. Nobody should go through what Fears went through. None of the incoming recruits are as "raw" as Carr.
Everybody seems to have a manageable, defined role. Carlos Medlock Jr. will be the backup point guard. Jasiah Jervis will contend for a starting spot at shooting guard, or at least be a key bench piece. Ethan Taylor will be an important piece with his athleticism at center. Julius Avent may struggle to find minutes, but he is at least a top-100 recruit who could hang around at either small or power forward.
Players on this current roster are used to winning. No one on the roster should be stretched too thin, and there aren't any clear and obvious weaknesses for the Spartans this coming season. The hype is more warranted this time than last time.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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