This is the time of the year where we are bombarded with college basketball preseason rankings from media outlets, and again we are seeing the Spartans just outside the top 10 — this time from CBS Sports.
Matt Norlander of CBS Sports released the final batch of his 1-357 preseason rankings on Thursday, with Michigan State sitting in a familiar spot just outside the top 10. Norlander pegged the Spartans at No. 13 in his rankings, behind three other Big Ten teams — Illinois (No. 4), Wisconsin (No. 8), and Iowa (No. 9).
.@MattNorlander ranked EVERY team in college basketball. It starts like this:
1. Villanova
2. Gonzaga
3. Baylor
4. Illinois
5. Virginia
6. Kansas
7. WVU
8. Wisconsin
9. Iowa
10. Kentucky
11. Creighton
12. Duke
13. Michigan St.
14. Texas Tech
15. Tennesseehttps://t.co/56DUIE4z4H— CBS Sports CBB (@CBSSportsCBB) November 5, 2020
Norlander offered up his thoughts on the Spartans in his rankings, citing the loss of Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman for why he has MSU outside the top three in the Big Ten. He did, however, point out newcomer forward Joey Hauser as a sneaky good three-point shooting threat.
Here’s some of what Norlander had to say about MSU:
“The Spartans, for the first time in a while, aren’t a sure thing to be a top-three Big Ten team. Yet, I’ll tell you that Tom Izzo’s league contemporaries are not assuming anything with this group. Michigan State lost one of its best players in school history, Cassius Winston, and that is going to sting. Xavier Tillman staying in the draft is also a big hit. But MSU does look fairly durable for players 1-8 heading into Nov. 25.”
Jeff Borzello of ESPN also has MSU at No. 13 in his updated preseason poll that was released last week. It appears that the Spartans’ sweet spot in these preseason rankings will be right in the No. 12 – No. 15 window, but don’t be surprised if some people are higher on MSU — like Dick Vitale who had the green-and-white at No. 7.
Click here to see the rest of Norlander’s rankings and to read more on what he had to say about Michigan State, including his projection for the Spartans’ starting five.
