Wisconsin at Michigan State: 2020-21 key storylines to watch

The Big Ten Conference features a Christmas Day quadruple-header that kicks-off with No.12 Michigan State versus No. 9 Wisconsin.

On Nov. 3, 2020, the Big Ten Conference was able to lay claim to three of the top five spots in the AP Poll. When Michigan State Basketball and Wisconsin Basketball meet up on Christmas Day, the Big Ten has just two teams in the top ten positions.

Even as Big 12 members Kansas and Baylor hold the three and two spots respectively, from top to bottom the Big Ten still has to be considered the top conference in Division I basketball, for now. As fans of the Big Ten wait until 12:30 pm in order to get the gift they truly want, Head Coaches Tom Izzo and Greg Gard will have a few sleepless nights preparing for this match-up which can only be rivaled by children laying awake on Christmas Eve.

As would be expected from conference play and which makes it so interesting, is that these two coaches have met ten times, with Coach Gard’s team capturing victories in the first contest in 2016 and the last contest during the 2109-20 season., both wins were by one point.

Christmas Day will be the sole opportunity for these two teams to compete against one another, which only enhances its importance and brings the storylines more to the forefront. Coach Gard will be looking to exploit the weaknesses of the Spartans in a way Northwestern did in order to score an upset victory. This while Coach Izzo will be attempting to get the Spartans to effectively do what no other team has been able to when opposing the Badgers.

Basketball is won and lost on the court, and ultimately the players need to be able to execute the coach’s’ strategy, but each of the storylines that will decide this game between two top-ten hopefuls, will have to be taken on as an entire team.