ESPN’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently has MSU as a No. 1 seed — along with Kentucky, Syracuse and Kansas — playing in the West Region. Most bracket experts have the Spartans listed as either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, putting them in a good position to make a run in March.

Head coach Tom Izzo said Monday that earning a No. 1 seed doesn’t carry the weight it used to. Although it still provides the best possible path to the Final Four, the increasing number of quality teams in college basketball each year makes it tougher for even the top seeds to advance.

“It used to be, I think in 2000, if you were a No. 1 seed, you had a great chance to get out of the first weekend,” Izzo said. “And now only history says you have a great chance to get out of the first game, and even that’s going to be a challenge pretty soon.”

The most important aspect of seeding now, Izzo said, is where you end up playing. If ESPN’s bracket holds true, the Spartans would start in Columbus, Ohio, and then go to Phoenix before the Final Four, which is in New Orleans.

Not to mention that a No. 1 seed would be a good indicator of the progress MSU has made since last season, when the Spartans snuck into the tournament as a 10 seed.

“I feel good about what an accomplishment it is because if you’re still a one seed, you’re one of four teams in the whole country that has earned it over 30 games,” Izzo said. “And that’s pretty cool.”

Lucky No. 7
In his 17th year at the helm in East Lansing, Izzo picked his seventh Big Ten championship when Ohio State lost to Wisconsin on Sunday. Izzo became the fifth head coach to win seven or more Big Ten titles and just the second to do it in the last 40 years.

The other is legendary head coach Bob Knight, who won 11 conference championships at Indiana.

Giving all of the credit to his players — because “(coaches) don’t make shots, we don’t make passes, we don’t rebound the ball” — Izzo said his seventh Big Ten crown is another item to add to the long list of “incredible things” to happen to him during his career.

And, after being compared to Knight, Izzo said he and his star senior forward Draymond Green have something in common.

“I’m not Bob Knight,” Izzo said. “He’s accomplished so much more. But (Green) is not Magic Johnson either. But if you’re talked about in the same breath, that’s a privilege. That’s an honor.”

Surprise!
MSU was in practice during Wisconsin’s upset win over Ohio State on Sunday that clinched at least a share of the conference championship for the Spartans.

Green said on Monday that some trainers and junior center Derrick Nix were watching the game in the training room while Nix received treatment for the strained arch in his foot. When the score went final and Nix knew MSU was a Big Ten champion, he told Green.

“But I just kept quiet,” Green said. “I didn’t want to say anything, and guys get all over-excited or practice goes down the drain.”

Green left it up to his coach to tell the team. And when Izzo — who said clinching a share with two games to play is a “positive distraction” — finally did let his players know, he made sure to avoid celebrating too much.

“We had a four-minute meeting after practice to number one, congratulate them,” Izzo said. “And number two, tell them they haven’t done you-know-what yet. It was a double-edged sword. It was a compliment and a challenge, and that’s how I’m approaching it.”