Michigan State Basketball will get underway one week from today with a game against Quinnipiac. Expectations and hopes are high throughout Spartan Nation going into the season, and that is also the case among the writers here at The Only Colors. The five of us share our predictions for how the season will go down.
You will have your chance to share your predictions in the comments.
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We each responded to 19 different prompts. Please note these predictions were made prior to the UConn exhibition. Here is what Mike, Steve, Robbie, Darin, and myself are predicting.
Overall record (32 games):
M: 24-8
S: 22-10
R: 27-5
D: 28-4
O: 26-6
Big Ten record (20 games):
M: 14-6
S: 13-7
R: 17-3
D: 18-2
O: 15-5
Big Ten seeding:
M:4
S: 5
R: 2
D: 1
O: 2
Big Ten regular season champion:
M: Illinois
S: Illinois
R: Illinois
D: MSU
O: Illinois
Record against major conference opponents Duke, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Gonzaga:
M: 2-2, Ls to Duke & Gonzaga
S: 1-3 Gonzaga is the win
R: 3-1, losing to Gonzaga in California
D: 3-1, L to Duke
O: 3-1, lose at Tennessee
Top scorer:
M: Fears
S: Carr
R: Carr
D: Fears
O: Ward
Top rebounder:
M: Ward
S: Bonke
R: Bonke
D: Ward
O: Bonke (or Taylor if he ends up starting at center before the midpoint of the season)
Will Fears lead the nation in assists again? Can he go over 10.0 APG?:
M: I’ll say no to both. He has a better supporting cast this year, every single offensive play won’t be solely dependent on him, and Medlock will pick up some of the slack.
S: No to both.
R: I’ll say yes to both.
D: Let’s go with yes for both for me. Long time Purdue guard Braden Smith is in the NBA with the Pacers now and I don’t see another obvious player that is gonna be in contention with Fears. Although in this new dumb world we live in, a judge from West Lafayette could quickly change that with an injunction.
With Tom Izzo’s insistence on only the Point Guard bringing the ball up on offense, Fears should be able to again match that total and go past it. +2 Coen Carr. alley-oops a game, spot up shooters all over, and Ward/Bonke in the low post should do it.
O: I’m going to split my answers. Yes, I think Fears leads the nation in APG again this year. But I don’t think he eclipses 10.0/game. His 328 assists, including tournament games, last year was already a top 10 all-time performance. I don’t know how much higher he can get.
Top blocks:
M: Taylor
S: Carr
R: Carr
D: Bonke
O: Scott
Top 3pt%:
M: Scott
S: Scott
R: Glenn
D: Teng
O: Glenn
Most improved:
M: McCulloch
S: Scott
R: Carr
D: McCulloch
O: McCulloch
Best new player (4 freshmen, Bonke, or Glenn):
M: Jervis, because Robbie seems to be all in
S: Glenn, because I dare to be different
R: Jervis, because I am all in
D: Bonke, because 7’2”
O: Medlock, because our 2nd unit is also going to be good
Most likely to transfer out after season:
M: Glenn
S: Teng
R: McCulloch
D: Glenn
O: Teng
Which 6-pack of players will average more PPG, last year’s guys (Fears, Scott, Carr, Teng, Ward, and McCulloch) or new guys (Medlock, Jervis, Avent, Taylor, Bonke, and Glenn)?
M: Last year’s guys
S: Last year
R: Last year – not sure there are enough minutes to match for the new guys
D: Last Year
O: I’ll go against the grain and say the new guys. I expect Fears’ scoring to come down. I expect Medlock and Jervis to provide a strong backcourt off the bench, especially going against the opponent’s 2nd string. Glenn will hit some 3s. And either Bonke or Taylor are going to do some work on the interior. So give me the new guys, but by 0.1 PPG.
Sweep um?:
M: No, split
S: No
R: Yes
D: YES
O: Yes!
Ranking at end of regular season:
M:11
S: 13
R: 5
D: 3
O: 4 (but not the highest Big Ten team)
Big Ten Tournament performance:
M: Lose in the final
S: Lose in semis
R: Lose in finals to Illinois
D: Lose in semis
O: Lose in finals to Illinois because the Illini had more time to nap after their semifinal on Saturday.
NCAA Tournament performance:
M: Final Four
S: Sweet 16
R: Final Four
D: Championship Game
O: TOC Nation, you know me by now. MSU is winning it all in Detroit!
Random bold prediction/ Miscellaneous thoughts:
M: Even though a lot of players return, it will take a little while to figure out the rotation and pecking order. But, like the Covid year team, they will be hitting their stride at tournament time and this team will take advantage.
S: Avent will earn more playing time as season progresses
R: Jasiah Jervis will take Jordan Scott’s starting SG spot mid-season, solely due to how impressive Jervis will be.
D: Jesse McCulloch took a jump this offseason and is set for a huge year. Getting Adrian Payne and Kenny Goins senior year vibes.
Under the surface I think Izzo is seething with rage seeing his rival just win a National Title. I think he will be extra motivated this season to do the same and bring back-to-back championships to the state of Michigan. The talent and depth are there to do it.
O: Darin took what I was going to say. I think we will see an even more Izzo Tom Izzo this year. For 26 years, Michigan State had the distinction of being the last Big Ten team to win it all. Of all the teams to end that, it was our in-state rival who did it by buying the best team money could buy. Deep down, our coach is fuming and he is going to blow his top a few times this year. There will be no shortage of Coach tearing into players for coaching opportunities, incidents that will have the talking heads and internet commentators calling him out (but us Spartans will know it’s fine). We will see Izzo get ejected from a game once or twice for berating officials who are messing up. We will see him be as intense as ever. It is going to be like when Mario gets a mushroom. He wants to be the most recent Big Ten team to win it all once again, and he knows he has a great opportunity to accomplish it this year.
In addition to the TOC staff doing their predictions for the season, Connor Lemons from the Ohio State site, Land-Grant Holy Land, got a bunch of the Big Ten writers together and conducted a conference poll. 11 of 16 sites (UCLA and USC don’t have SB Nation sites) participated in his survey. If you don’t want to read his article, here is a summary.
Projected Big Ten Standings
(First-place votes in parentheses)
- Illinois, 195 (8)
- Michigan State, 183 (3)
- Michigan, 168
- UCLA, 154
- Purdue, 150
- Nebraska, 134
- USC, 130
- Ohio State, 123
- Iowa, 112
- Indiana, 109
- Wisconsin, 101
- Maryland, 84
- Oregon, 61
- Minnesota, 57
- Washington, 45
- Northwestern, 36
- Rutgers, 34
- Penn State, 15
Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year
Jeremy Fears, Michigan State (6)
Also receiving votes: Andrej Stojakovic, Illinois (3); David Mirkovic, Illinois (2)
Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Anthony Thompson, Ohio State (6)
Also receiving votes: Nikola Kusturica, UCLA (3); Jasiah Jervis, Michigan State (1);
Tajh Ariza, Oregon (1)
Big Ten Transfer of the Year
Markus Burton, Indiana & Jaylen Petty, UCLA (3) – TIE
Also receiving votes: Stefan Vaaks, Illinois (2); Aiden Sherrell, Indiana (1); KJ Lewis, USC (1); JP Estrella, Michigan (1)
“Sleeper” Big Ten Team
Indiana Hoosiers, Maryland Terrapins, & USC Trojans (2) – TIE
Also receiving votes: Iowa, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota, UCLA
First Team All-Big Ten
(Bold = unanimous selection)
Jeremy Fears, Michigan State
Elliot Cadeau, Michigan
Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska
Andrej Stojakovic, Illinois
David Mirkovic, Illinois
Second Team All-Big Ten
Trey McKenney, Michigan
John Mobley Jr., Ohio State
Rodney Rice, USC
Pharrel Payne, Maryland
Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois
Also receiving votes/Honorable Mention
Nikola Kusturica (UCLA), Stefan Vaaks (Illinois), Nolan Winter (Wisconsin), Aiden Sherrell (Indiana), Markus Burton (Indiana), Coen Carr (Michigan State), CJ Cox (Purdue), Jacob Cofie (USC), Anthony Thompson (Ohio State), Jaylen Petty (UCLA), Trent Perry (UCLA), JP Estrella (Michigan), Tariq Francis (Rutgers), Cam Ward (Michigan State), Amare Bynum (Ohio State), Caden Pierce (Purdue), Tajh Ariza (Oregon), Nick Martinelli (Los Angeles Clippers), Samet Yigitoglu (Indiana), Cooper Koch (Iowa), Jake West (Northwestern)
If you want to fill out your own ballot for MSU predictions, here are the questions:
Overall record (32 games):
Big Ten record (20 games):
Big Ten seeding:
Big Ten regular season champion:
Record against major conference opponents Duke, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Gonzaga:
Top scorer:
Top rebounder:
Will Fears lead the nation in assists again? Can he go over 10.0 APG?:
Top blocks:
Top 3pt%:
Most improved:
Best new player (4 freshmen, Bonke, or Glenn):
Most likely to transfer out after season:
Which 6-pack of players will average more PPG, last year’s guys (Fears, Scott, Carr, Teng, Ward, and McCulloch) or new guys (Medlock, Jervis, Avent, Taylor, Bonke, and Glenn)?:
Sweep um?:
Ranking at end of regular season:
Big Ten Tournament performance:
NCAA Tournament performance:
Random bold prediction/ Miscellaneous thoughts:
TOC Nation, whose picks do you agree with? Who do you want to call out? It’s okay, we can handle the criticism.
We look forward to reading all of your predictions.