Seven games into the 2025-26 Michigan State basketball season, expectations have already been exceeded. Tom Izzo has the Spartans cruising right now, picking up three ranked wins to begin the year, and when the gauntlet of a non-conference schedule was announced, no one expected them to go undefeated until December.
There’s one more team standing in Michigan State’s way of a perfect record against ranked non-conference opponents, and it’s a big one: Duke.
The Blue Devils are arguably the best team in college basketball, and if you go by national title odds, Duke is the team to beat — along with Michigan, Houston, and Purdue.