Michigan St. Spartans; Final Record: 17-12 (9-9); #7 Seed in Big Ten
The Big Ten tournament may not mean more to any team than it does to the Michigan St. Spartans. While MSU was once considered a Final Four contender, they now find themselves fighting for their lives. After losing the season finale to the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan St. will now need every win possible to get into the NCAA tournament.
Michigan State is currently the very definition of a bubble team and cannot afford to lose their first round game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Spartans will be scoreboard watching and will have very specific rooting interests as Selection Sunday nears. They need some of the other bubble teams to falter and need to pick up a couple of wins in the Big Ten tournament in order to convince the committee that they are worthy of an at-large bid.
MSU is led by their leading scorer, Kalin Lucas, who averages 17 points per game. Lucas and company will face Iowa in the first round this Thursday at 4:30 PM ET in Indianapolis.