EAST LANSING, Mich. — The hardest game on Michigan State’s regular season schedule appears to be the last one.
No. 8 MSU (25-5 overall, 15-4 Big Ten) has played a lot of really, really good teams. The Spartans have hosted top-ranked Duke, hosted No. 3 Michigan, went on the road for an exhibition against No. 4 UConn, faced No. 9 Nebraska on the road, hosted No. 11 Illinois, seen No. 15 Purdue on the road, and so on. None of those tasks have felt quite as daunting as going on the road and facing the Wolverines (28-2, 18-1) in Ann Arbor.
“They are, I think, the deepest, best-talented team in the country,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said after practice on Friday evening.
No matter what one’s feelings in East Lansing are about the maize and blue, it’s hard to deny their dominance this season. Michigan has won 15 Big Ten games this year by at least 10 points and became the first team from the Big Ten to win all its road games since 1975-76 Indiana (y’know, the last college basketball team to go undefeated). That doesn’t happen accidentally.
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Something about the Wolverines Izzo seemed to really think strengthens them is their depth. UM has about eight or nine guys who could probably start at plenty of other places. It’s enough of a machine that even if one part gets taken out, including Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Yaxel Lendeborg, it’s hard to imagine Michigan still not humming at a fairly high level. That can’t really be said about MSU…