The Spartans' schedule is BRUTAL.
Northern Arizona - W
#2 Gonzaga - neutral site
#4 Kentucky - neutral site
#16 Villanova - home
#20 Alabama - neutral
UConn or #21 Oregon - neutral-ish, game is in Portland so a pseudo road game if it is Oregon
TBD - neutral (last game of the Phil Knight invitational) - will be UNC, Portland, Iowa State, or Villanova
at Notre Dame
They get two of their easier B1G games in December or this would be amazingly difficult. Imagine if we flipped our December B1G opponents with them.
Northwestern
at Penn State
Brown
Oakland
Buffalo
Back to B1G action
Considering they are unranked, they are likely the underdog in a minimum of five and possibly as many as seven of those non conference games. They could be 3-6 or 2-7 going into the Northwestern game and need to finish well above .500 in B1G play to feel comfortable on Selection Sunday. Let's say they end up 6-6 out of conference and go 11-9 in league play to finish 17-15 going into the conference tournament. That's a rough winning % to claim a spot. On the flip side, if they start strongly, they will have a great resume.
