Michigan State Spartans Will Sit Atop The Big Ten Once Again
The Spartans also have the fifth-shortest odds to win the National Championship at 15-1
Kate Constable - Sep 15, 2023, 10:40pm EDT
While our attention is consumed by the gridiron, action on the hardwood is slowly creeping up. We're less than two months away from the start of the college basketball season, which opens on November 6. National Championship and Final Four odds are out, with Duke the favorite to win the title at +1100, but conference odds have yet to be posted at domestic books. That means this is the time to start your research so you're ready to jump on opening lines once they're posted. In this article, we're going to dive into the Michigan State Spartans and what makes them my favorite in the Big Ten this year.
While our attention is consumed by the gridiron, action on the hardwood is slowly creeping up. We're less than two months away from the start of the college basketball season, which opens on November 6. National Championship and Final Four odds are out, with Duke the favorite to win the title at +1100, but conference odds have yet to be posted at domestic books. That means this is the time to start your research so you're ready to jump on opening lines once they're posted. In this article, we're going to dive into the Michigan State Spartans and what makes them my favorite in the Big Ten this year.
Michigan State's Season Outlook
The Spartans finished the 2022-23 season 21-13 overall and 11-8 in conference play, which was good enough for a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten regular season standings. Tom Izzo is one of the best coaches in all of college basketball in the month of March and led his team to the Sweet Sixteen where it was bounced by Kansas State. With four starters returning for the 2023-24 season, the Spartans shouldn't have any trouble getting back to that point.
They are 15-1 to win the national title and +550 to make the Final Four. Those are the fifth and sixth-best odds on the board, respectively.
Jaden Akins, A.J. Hoggard, Tyson Walker, and Mady Sissoko are the four returning starters, bringing with them a ton of experience with each of them being upperclassman. The only starter not returning is Joey Hauser. As the Spartans' second-leading scorer, he'll leave a big hole in Izzo's rotation, but thankfully, MSU is always a program with talent waiting in the wings. That's where fifth-year senior Malik Hall will likely step in. He averaged just under 10 points per game last season and was a key rotation player for Izzo.
MSU also brings in a strong recruiting class with freshman Xavier Booker, Jeremy Fears, Coen Carr and Gehrig Normand. At 6'10, Booker is the 11th-ranked recruit in the country while Fears and Carr are both top-50.
Part of the reason Indiana was picked as last year's preseason favorite to win the Big Ten was because of the experience they returned. The Spartans are the Hoosiers of a year ago, except I expect them to finish the regular season atop the standings, unlike Indiana. Purdue won the conference last year and it's going to have a great shot at repeating with Zach Edy returning, but that's also going to give us a bit of a discount on the Spartans.
Any other year, this MSU would be the conference's odds-on favorite heading into the season. We're likely to see the Boilermakers occupy that spot when conference odds are released, but don't let that scare you. The Spartans are winning the Big Ten this year and a bet on them to win the NCAA Tournament certainly isn't something I'd talk you out of.
