The Michigan State Spartans open their men’s basketball season on Nov. 7 in East Lansing against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.
Several seniors and former Top 100 prospects will lead the 2022-23 Spartans, but many of those players have not logged a lot of minutes or been key players yet at this level.
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The uncertainty about the Spartans, who lost most of the leaders on a team that won 23 games last season, has oddsmakers pricing MSU as a longshot to win the Big 10 (+1100 at DraftKings Michigan). But head coach Tom Izzo has shown an ability to squeeze every drop of commitment from his players in the past. He’s guided the Spartans to the Final Four seven times.
Michigan State Final Four Odds
The only Michigan sports betting apps that lists Final Four odds are DraftKings and FanDuel Michigan. Here are how they list the odds for Michigan State to make the Final Four:
- FanDuel +1300
- DraftKings +1500
On FanDuel, there are 24 teams listed with better odds than the Spartans. The teams with the lowest odds are Houston (+200), Gonzaga (+200), and North Carolina (+230). Michigan’s odds to make the Final Four are +800.
On DraftKings, there are also 24 teams with better odds than Michigan State. Four teams are tied with the lowest odds at +330: North Carolina, Kentucky, Gonzaga, and Houston. DraftKings lists Michigan at +1000.
Here are the NCAA championship odds for Spartans men’s basketball, as of the preseason:
- BetMGM Michigan: 50-to-1
- BetRivers Michigan: 60-to-1
- Caesars Michigan: 50-to-1
- DraftKings Michigan: 60-to-1
- FanDuel Michigan: 70-to-1
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New User Sportsbook Promo Codes for MSU Spartans Basketball
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Unproven Upperclassmen Face Challenges in Tough Big 10
Does Tom Izzo have what it takes to prepare a team to compete for a college basketball title? The legendary coach has seen his team post a .500 record in the Big 10 over the last two seasons. Izzo hasn’t won an outright Big 10 conference title since 2018.
The 2022-23 roster has to replace the top-three scorers, the top rebounder, and the leading shot blocker from a season ago. Three conference rivals have revived their programs in recent years: Indiana, Illinois, and most galling of all, the Michigan Wolverines.
Embarrassingly for the Spartans, the Wolverines have reached at least the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six years, while Izzo’s Spartans have fallen behind in the state and the conference.
A tough non-conference won’t help the Spartans’ early season record but will help Izzo evaluate what type of team he has this season.
Michigan State Spartans Key Non-Conference Games
You’ll want to put a pin in the typical Big 10 games that create excitement each season and come back to them for your college basketball betting, but there are also key non-conference games that you may want to put in your betting plans for the NCAA Hoops season.
- Nov. 11: MSU vs. No. 2 Gonzaga
- Nov. 15: MSU vs. No. 4 Kentucky
- Nov. 18: MSU vs. No. 16 Villanova
- Nov. 24: MSU vs. No. 20 Alabama
November will be a challenging month for the Spartans on the hard court. The Spartans face four preseason Top 20 teams, but all of those games will be played at Breslin Center. Last season, Michigan State faced two nationally ranked non-conference opponents, losing to Kansas and Baylor, with both losses on the road.
The question marks overshadow the certainties for the Spartans’ probable starters:
- Senior guard Tyson Walker is a pushover on the defensive end despite his nose for scoring.
- Junior point guard A.J. Hoggard is the best passer on the team, but he’s terrible at shooting the three.
- Wing player and senior Malik Hall can run the court and shoot the long ball, but he’s inconsistent and a bit soft inside.
- Junior post player Mady Sissoko is physical, but has never logged much playing time and will need to work on running the court.
To get to the Final Four, Izzo will need to do some of the best coaching of his career, shepherding his rotation of players and finding the correct mix to balance scoring, and protecting the ball, while still playing the MSU-style defense he prefers.
The Spartans begin conference play on Dec. 4 against Northwestern. Three Big 1o teams are ranked in the Top 25 entering the season: No. 13 Indiana, No. 22 Michigan, and No. 23 Illinois.
AP Photo/Darron Cummings
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