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MSU men's basketball ranked No. 1 in latest AP Top 25 Poll

December 7, 2015
<p>Senior guard Bryn Forbes, 5, and the rest of the MSU Spartans get excited during the game against Northern Michigan on Nov. 4, 2015 at Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Wildcats, 94-53.</p>

Senior guard Bryn Forbes, 5, and the rest of the MSU Spartans get excited during the game against Northern Michigan on Nov. 4, 2015 at Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Wildcats, 94-53.

Photo by Joshua Abraham | The State News

The MSU men's basketball team has been ranked the No. 1 team in the nation, according to the latest AP Top 25 Poll.

MSU is followed by No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 North Carolina. Iowa State and Kentucky round out the top five.

MSU is currently 9-0 on the season with victories over a then-No. 4 Kansas team in the Champions Classic and a then-No. 24 Louisville team in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

It's the first time MSU has been ranked No. 1 since Dec. 2013.

However, at his weekly press conference Monday, MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo said he feels his program is at a point right now where this ranking isn't as big a deal as it once would be, and that he hopes his team can handle this type of success.

"I think we’re to the point now, as I said about this culture around here, where if a football or basketball team is ranked real high, we’ve been through enough where we don’t look at that as the first time in the history of the world," Izzo said. "But, I’m proud of what we’ve done. We’ve earned what we’ve gotten, whatever we’re ranked, we’ve earned it because we’ve played a tough enough schedule, with enough travel, with enough adversity."

And although Izzo said he feels his team has the best chemistry as any team in the country right now, he also doesn't necessarily feel his team is the No. 1 team in the country.

"Do I think we’re the best team in the country? No, I don’t," Izzo said. "Do I think there’s anybody head and shoulders better than us right now? No, I don’t. I think right now there are a lot of teams in the same (boat). What I hope my team does is appreciate the work that went into getting to where we are and take that and building on it. And the old adage about a coach is that he’s never satisfied. Great players are never satisfied. That’s what I think separates the good ones from the great ones."

MSU gets back into action Wednesday against Maryland Eastern Shore at 7 p.m. in Breslin Center.

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