Making the NCAA Tournament field isn’t something Michigan State basketball goes into the season concerned about, having made 27 straight brackets under Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo. If the Spartans were a little uneasy about their prospects, though, next year’s schedule has plenty of marquee opportunities to pad their resume, including matchups against Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and Arkansas before Big Ten season.

ESPN doesn’t believe Izzo and Co. will be sweating next Selection Sunday, however. The outlet’s latest mock NCAA Tournament field from analyst Joe Lunardi includes the Spartans as a No. 5 seed in what would be their 28th consecutive March Madness appearance.

Situated in the East Region, MSU opens tournament play against 12-seed Illinois State in Lunardi’s new projected bracket. The winner of that game would face either 4-seed Arkansas or 13-seed Miami (Ohio) in the round of 32. Defending national champion Florida is the top seed in MSU’s region, while rival Michigan is the No. 2 and Iowa State is the No. 3.

Houston, Duke and Purdue are ESPN’s other No. 1 seeds. Eleven Big Ten programs are projected to make the 2026 tournament, second-most behind the SEC’s 14. Click here for ESPN’s full updated Bracketology field.

Back for Year 31 leading the program, Izzo is coming off of his most successful season since the COVID-19 pandemic, a year that rejuvenated the fan base and restored MSU’s position as one of the sport’s powerhouses after several lukewarm campaigns. The Spartans finished 30-7 last year, winning the Big Ten championship by a three-game distance and advancing to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament. It was their first Big Ten title since 2020, and, as a No. 2 seed, their deepest March Madness run since 2019.

“For the 30th year, I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a team,” Izzo said after the Spartans’ season-ending loss to 1-seed Auburn. “There’s so much coach speak and things that go on in programs all over, but these guys gave me everything they had. I drained them of everything. They should take a week off. There’s nothing left in them.

“… All in all, the most unbelievable year I’ve had, the most connected year I’ve had. I just appreciate what these guys did for myself, our program, our university, and our community.”

The well-liked team that became known as the “strength in numbers” Spartans won’t have a second tour together, however, as much of the 10-man rotation MSU rode to surprising success is no longer in the program. The Spartans lost three contributors to graduation (Jaden Akins, Frankie Fidler, Szymon Zapala), three others to the transfer portal (Tre Holloman, Xavier Booker, Gehrig Normand) and their young star, Jase Richardson, to the NBA Draft, where he was picked 25th overall by the Orlando Magic.

MSU has restocked its roster by adding four transfers – former Florida Atlantic forward Kaleb Glenn, former Samford guard Trey Fort, former Miami (Fla.) point guard Divine Ugochukwu and former Harvard point guard Denham Wojcik – to go with its two-man freshman class comprised of forwards Jordan Scott and Cam Ward, both four-star prospects coming out of high school.

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