Bad Losses
: at Northwestern
Ten days ago Michigan State had virtually no shot at making the NCAA tournament. The Spartans were 10–9, 4–9 in conference play, and a week before had been beaten by 30 at home by Iowa in what was the worst loss in the history of the Breslin Center. One good week later and the Spartans are very much alive in the race for a bid. How? Essentially the Spartans had a season’s worth of opportunities for big wins in six days. A road win at Indiana is a nice feather in their cap, but the real needle-movers were home wins over Illinois and Ohio State that catapulted the Spartans into SI’s most recent projected field. But a blowout loss at Maryland Sunday took some wind from MSU’s sails and left it right on the cut line entering March.