The 2025-’26 ‘BTPowerhouse Season Preview’ series will take an in-depth look at all 18 teams in the Big Ten heading into the 2025-’26 ‘season with analysis on each program’s previous season, roster overhaul,
and top storylines. Each post will also include predictions on each team’s postseason potential.
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Despite relatively underwhelming preseason expectations, the Michigan State Spartans had a remarkable season, winning 30 games, winning the Big Ten title, and making the Elite Eight. The campaign had about as much as fans could have hoped for, save a trip to the third weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Of course, the question is now whether Tom Izzo and company can keep that success going with a new group this year.
Let’s take a look.
1. Last Season.
The 2024-’25 season was a banner one in East Lansing. The team finished 30-7 overall, won the Big Ten regular season title outright, and made the Elite Eight before falling short against Auburn. Between November 26th and March 30th, Michigan State lost a total of five games — a remarkable achievement for the squad, particularly given the strength of competition the Spartans faced.
Outside of the disastrous trip to Los Angeles in early February, it’s hard to complain about much Michigan State accomplished last season. The team avoided missteps, took care of business, and beat a litany of quality opponents. For example, the team beat five straight top 25 KenPom opponents in February and early March alone. Any criticism would really just be nitpicking.
The most significant development over the course of the season was the rise of Jase Richardson. The freshman guard arrived with decent excitement, but turned himself into a serious NBA prospect by midseason. He carried the Spartans from outside the arc, which had been an issue in recent seasons.
2. Roster Overlook.
Michigan State will be undergoing a significant transition this offseason. The Spartans will be losing seven players in Jaden Akins, Xavier Booker, Frankie Fidler, Tre Holloman, Gehrig Normand, Jase Richardson, and Szymon Zapala. The most significant departures are clearly Akins, Holloman, and Richardson, who led Michigan State in total minutes last season. Fidler and Zapala were also in the nine-man rotation.
The good news is Michigan State welcomes a talented group of newcomers. The team has two incoming high school prospects in Jordan Scott and Cam Ward and four transfers in Tre Fort (Samford), Kaleb Glenn (FAU), and Divine Ugochukwu (Miami-FL), and Denham Wojcik (Harvard).
Scott and Ward both arrive as top 50ish prospects and should be able to compete for immediate playing time. Glenn also put up really solid numbers for the Owls last season, hitting over 40 percent from deep. If he can hit anything close to that in East Lansing, it would be a huge boost for Michigan State. Fort didn’t shoot quite as well for Samford, but did some nice things as well.
3. The Schedule.
-Non-Conference Schedule:
- 10/23 – Bowling Green (Exh.)
- 10/28- at UConn (Exh.)
- 11/3 – Colgate
- 11/8 – Arkansas
- 11/13 – San Jose State
- 11/18 – Kentucky (New York, NY)
- 11/21 – Detroit
- 11/25 – East Carolina (Fort Myers, FL)
- 11/27 – North Carolina (Fort Myers, FL)
- 12/6 – Duke
- 12/16 – Toledo
- 12/20 – Oakland (Detroit, MI)
- 12/29 – Cornell
-Conference Schedule:
- 12/2 – Iowa
- 12/13 – at Penn State
- 1/2 – at Nebraska
- 1/5 – USC
- 1/8 – Northwestern
- 1/13 – Indiana
- 1/17 – at Washington
- 1/20 – at Oregon
- 1/24 – Maryland
- 1/27 – at Rutgers
- 1/30 – Michigan
- 2/4 – at Minnesota
- 2/7 – Illinois
- 2/13 – at Wisconsin
- 2/17 – UCLA
- 2/22 – Ohio State
- 2/26 – at Purdue
- 3/1 – at Indiana
- 3/5 – Rutgers
- 3/8 – at Michigan
-Postseason Schedule:
- March, 2026 – Big Ten Tournament (Chicago, IL)
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As usual, Michigan State is set to play a really challenging slate this season. While the Spartans have a few body bags in non-conference play, most of the games are pretty challenging, beginning with Arkansas at home in the opening week. The team also faces Kentucky, North Carolina, and Duke before the first week of December is finished — not exactly an easy slate.
Of course, Big Ten play will also be quite a challenge. Things start relatively easy with Iowa and Penn State in December, but things will really star ratcheting up around mid-January. Perhaps the most interesting stretch will be the following, with KenPom odds noted alongside each game:
- 1/13 – Indiana (67%)
- 1/17 – at Washington (50%)
- 1/20 – at Oregon (43%)
- 1/24 – Maryland (65%)
- 1/27 – at Rutgers (65%)
- 1/30 – Michigan (51%)
That’s a six-game stretch where just about every game is a tossup. If the Spartans can perform well and survive a west coast swing, the group could easily end up in Big Ten title contention. However, come up short and most of the team’s goals could go up in flames. It should be a fun couple of weeks.
4. Biggest Obstacle.
Between March of 2020 and March of 2024, the story of Michigan State basketball was relatively straightforward – a solid-to-good team that would ultimately fall short in March. It was the frustrating middle of college basketball, where the group was too good to criticize too harshly but not good enough to satisfy most fans.
However, that changed last year and the main reason was the addition of Richardson. He was an instant star and immediately elevated the team’s production considerably. He was also a big enough offensive boost that it allowed Tom Izzo to use different lineups than he could over the last few years, improving Michigan State’s defense, rebounding, etc. One star player can do that.
Unfortunately, Richardson is now off to the NBA and Izzo is going to have to figure things out without him. Replacing that type of star talent is easily the team’s biggest challenge this season. Fears is probably the returner with the most hype and newcomers like Ward and Glenn have the potential to get there as well. However, it’s probably going to be an uphill battle for any of them to get to Richardson’s level. Fans are simply going to have to hope somebody surprises.
5. Realistic Expectations.
Generally speaking, this should be a pretty good Spartan squad. It was an elite team last year that brings back some key pieces, adds some quality newcomers, and has a great coaching staff. By every general metric, Michigan State figures to be in the NCAA Tournament conversation at season’s end.
Unfortunately, it’s also hard to see Michigan State competing with the top teams in the Big Ten, given the lack of elite star power on the roster. The Spartans desperately need someone to step up and outperform expectations. It’s a huge factor in tight games and in tough environments. If Izzo can find someone, Michigan State has enough to challenge in March. Otherwise, it’s probably more of that 2020-2024 performance fans are going to see this time around.
