Michigan State Basketball: Why Spartans are the No. 1 team in the country

2. Lack of “true” competition from the Big Ten Conference

Based on the non-conference play of the Big Ten teams this season, there is a strong argument that the Big Ten is the best conference in college basketball from top to bottom. Currently, the Big Ten has three teams ranked in the top 10 and six teams in the top 20 according to KenPom. Most importantly, according to the NET rankings. The Big Ten has seven teams currently ranked in the top 25 as the NET ranking NCAA was developed to replace the RPI as the main classifying instrument for assessing teams during the regular season.

Michigan State looks to have no real threats to challenging them for the Big Ten title. Michigan State has beat many of the contenders by double digits thus far this season. They beat Maryland by 14 Purdue by 18, and Iowa by 22. Michigan who looked to be a major contender lost on the road by double digits to unranked Wisconsin and only won by 2 points at home to a Minnesota team that lost to a 5 wins Illinois team by 27 points.  The Spartans are 8-0 in the Big Ten and don’t play at Maryland this season and if they win their two roads games at Iowa and Purdue, they have a clear path at the Big Ten Title and a #1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Tom Izzo and his coaching staff in two of the last three seasons prior to this one have failed to live up to the expectations of the program. Last season’s team lead by two future NBA lottery picks only lost four regular-season games. However, they showed flaws throughout the season and in the second round of the NCAA tournament, their inexperience, lack of consistent outside shooting, and their inability to handle a 2-3 zone were on full display.

That same team did not play a true non-conference road game and they were ill prepared to handle a spread you out half court offense that Michigan exposed them defensively. Three seasons ago, in a similar situation, the Spartans only lost five regular-season games but were not really tested in non-conference play especially on the road. That team ended up giving up 90 points and losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Fast forward to this season and coach Izzo and his staff has his team looking like a well-oiled machine. Even before the season started, the schedule was set up nearly perfectly and for the first time in a long time, not only has Izzo coaching a “prototypical” Izzo like team, he has his point guard listening and doing almost exactly what he wants, his team is feeding the ball inside the post to players like Ward, he has players like Goins, McQuaid, and Ahrens playing not just hard but smart and efficient, and finally his team is following his game plan of pushing the ball in transition and sharing the ball in the half court offense.

Most importantly, his team is listening to him and how he wants his defense to play and it is paying off and the results are victories.