Michigan State Basketball: Updates on 2023-24 schedule completion
By Ryan Kay
Michigan State Basketball is scheduling difficult and challenging opponents for their non-conference schedule for the upcoming season and the Spartans still have time to add two or more teams to their nonconference schedule.
The Michigan State Spartans will begin the 2023-24 regular season on November 6th They have scheduled teams from the Big 12, ACC, Big East, Sun Belt, and Pac-12 conferences in their upcoming non-conference play. In Big Ten conference play, Michigan State will have to contend with Purdue primarily for the regular season conference title.
Michigan State returns numerous players from last year’s team that have experience, talent, and leadership skills. The team will be led by arguably the deepest group of guards in the country starting with Tyson Walker, A.J. Hoggard, and Jaden Akins. The Spartans have experienced big men returning in Mady Sissoko and Malki Hall as well as a developing center in Carson Cooper and offensive skilled power forward Jaxon Kohler.
Michigan State along with their veteran upperclassmen have brought in four talented freshmen starting with highly rated recruits Xavier Booker and Jeremy Fears as well as rising star and high flyer Coen Carr and lastly Gehrig Normand who gives the Spartans tremendous depth. These four freshmen who were ranked the No. 5 ranked recruiting class according to 247 Sports add athletism, depth at the wing positions, and will most importantly make the practices even that much more competitive.
The Spartans with little doubt are a team more than capable of making a run to the Final Four and even possibly winning a national title. However, in order to be an outstanding team that reaches the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season, they must stay healthy and focused throughout the season. The number one reason for this strong optimistic forecast is that they have a very balanced roster with depth at every position with a tremendous amount of talent, especially at the guard positions from a team that reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament last season and brought eight scholarship players back from that team.
Michigan State will be challenged often and early this season but their depth this season will help them greatly with these tough non-conference games. Along with having an ambitious non-conference schedule, the Spartans have a competitive Big Ten set of games for this upcoming season. If they can avoid any serious injuries to their key players and play together and keep players happy with playing time, they can dethrone Purdue for the Big Ten regular season title and even capture a national championship in 2024.
Let’s now take a look at what we know thus far about the Spartans 2023-24 schedule.