When No. 8 Michigan State and No. 3 Michigan meet for their regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor, the Big Ten title won’t be on the line because the Wolverines claimed that trophy nine days prior.
NCAA Tournament seeds shouldn’t be on the line because the Wolverines (28-2, 18-1) are a lock for a No. 1 seed and the Spartans (25-5, 15-4) look like they’ve earned a No. 2 seed, particularly if the Wins Above Bubble metric is as crucial to the selection committee as everyone suggests. The Wolverines started the weekend first in WAB and the Spartans stood fifth.
So, what exactly is on the line?
Well, it should go without saying that the Spartans and Wolverines live to crush each other. Considering Michigan took down Michigan State by an 83-71 count on Jan. 30 in East Lansing, the Spartans are eager to restore balance.
Since Tom Izzo took over at Michigan State prior to the 1995-96 season, the Spartans have compiled a 36-22 record against the Wolverines — despite Michigan getting off to a 5-0 start against Sparty while Izzo rebuilt the program.
But Dusty May’s arrival in Ann Arbor has brought a new urgency to both sides. The Wolverines currently enjoy their highest winning percentage overall (.933) and in league play (.947) in school history.
If Michigan wins Sunday, then it will complete the best record in Big Ten play since Bob Knight’s 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers went 18-0 on the way to their perfect 32-0 season.
Just don’t suggest to May that his team is built solely on transfers, even though four offseason acquisitions — Yaxel Lendeborg (14.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg), Morez Johnson Jr. (13.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Aday Mara (11.5 ppg, 2.6 bpg) and Elliot Cadeau (10.1 ppg, 5.6 apg) — are his top four players.
“That’s a misnomer,” May said after Michigan completed its 10-0 Big Ten road record with a win Thursday at Iowa. “When you look at the amount of players that came in the portal this year, it’s four. And I think that’s probably below the (national) average.
“And when you factor in that we’re in Year 2 … when you inherit a program, you just don’t have 10 guys returning. From the first day they came on campus, they knew how special we could be. But we also had a nucleus of guys who are about the right stuff. And Trey McKenney is the Mr. Basketball in the state of Michigan that we had to beat a lot of really good teams to get. And then we had Will Tschetter and Nimari (Burnett) and L.J. Cason and Roddy Gayle. And so it’s a really, really good mix.”
Both Michigan and Michigan State had to scrap to win their games leading up to Sunday’s showdown. The Wolverines won at Iowa by three as they struggled to hold a late 10-point lead. The Spartans owned a 19-point lead with six minutes left against Rutgers, but it dwindled all the way to two before MSU secured a four-point win.
Afterward, Izzo implied how much the looming specter of Michigan hung over the Senior Night game against Rutgers. First, he declared all questions about the Wolverines to be off-limits — only to allude to them a few minutes later.
“Yeah, I’m going to enjoy the night, you know?” Izzo said. “I’m going to enjoy it until I get upstairs (to my office) and I’m going to burn the tape and start working on our next game that I won’t talk about.”
Sunday’s game marks just the fifth meeting with both Michigan and Michigan State among the Top 10 in the Associated Press Top 25. In the two previous seasons when this occurred (2012-13 and 2018-19), one of the teams went on to reach the Final Four.
There’s one other subtext to the game: The battle for Big Ten Player of the Year. Lendeborg figures to be the leader considering he ranks as the nation’s No. 3 player per KenPom, but Michigan State point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (15.3 ppg, 9.1 apg) ranks No. 6 while leading the nation in assists.
