Michigan State delivered a magnificent season, rebounding into an elite unit under legendary head coach Tom Izzo. Now, the Spartans have put the finishing touches on the regular season and are preparing to reach even higher in the Big Ten Tournament and beyond.

Entering the season, Michigan State was unranked on the AP Poll, marking the 3rd time in the past 4 years that the Spartans were unranked to start the season. The one time that the Spartans were ranked (No. 4 entering last season), they plummeted quickly out of the AP Top 25 and never returned.

However, MSU completely flipped the script beyond electric freshman Jase Richardson and some vintage guard play under Izzo. It led to a 26-5 overall record and an outright Big Ten title — one that MSU captured by 3 games over Maryland and Michigan.

It is the first outright title for Izzo since 2018, and, when the latest AP Poll was released on Monday, it added another nice touch to the regular season. The Spartans checked in at No. 7 overall, the first time Michigan State has been a top-10 team at the end of the regular season since 2020.

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In 2020, the Spartans finished the regular season No. 9 overall and split the regular season title with Maryland and Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the postseason was canceled due to COVID, and fans were left to wonder what could have been with Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman off to the NBA without one final NCAA Tournament opportunity.

This season, things look much different for the Spartans. Michigan State is riding a 7-game winning streak into the postseason, heating up and getting stronger as the year rolls on.

Since moving Jase Richardson into the starting lineup, Michigan State has gone 8-1 overall with Richardson only flourishing in a key role. He has averaged 16.9 points per game in that role with 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.9 steals while shooting 52.5% from the floor and 37.5% from 3-point range.

Across that same stretch, Tre Holloman has embraced coming off the bench in the final 8 games of the season. He is averaging 11.5 points and 3.8 assists in that span after Izzo’s late-season shakeup.

Now, we’ll see how far the Spartans can ride their deep backcourt in March, but it’s been a return to form for the program.