Bracketology: Where Michigan State stands heading into the Big Ten tournament

Michigan State has a handful of decent wins on its NCAA tournament resume, owning victories over No. 9 Purdue, No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 19 UConn.

They've also been thumped by a number of quality teams, including No. 4 Baylor, No. 7 Kansas, No. 23 Ohio State and No. 25 Iowa.

So perhaps the latest Bracketology predictions have the Spartans right about where they should be — in the 8-9 game and playing a No. 1 seed if they are to win their opening game of the NCAA tournament.

MSU is currently 40th in the NET Rankings and 35th in the RPI. The Spartans are 4-8 in Quad 1 games, 7-2 in Quad 2 games, 6-1 in Quad 3, 3-0 in Quad 4 and 14th nationally in strength of schedule.

Let's take a look at what seed and potential opponents could await the Spartans.

Joe Lunardi, ESPN

College basketball's premier (or, at least, most well-known) bracketologist has the Spartans as an 8-seed in the South Region, playing No. 9 San Francisco out of the West Coast Conference.

If the Spartans were to win, they'd see No. 1-seed Baylor in the second round. The defending champion Bears already own a 75-58 win over MSU back on Nov. 26.

Lunardi has eight Big Ten teams in the field with a ninth, Indiana, as the last team out. The highest seed belongs to Wisconsin as a No. 2, followed by Purdue (3), Illinois (4), Ohio State (6), Iowa (6), Michigan (11) and Rutgers (12).

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Jerry Palm, CBS Sports

Like Lundardi, Palm has MSU as an 8-seed, albeit in the East, playing 9-seed San Diego State. And Palm also has the Spartans seeing Baylor in a potential second-round game.

Palm also has eight Big Ten teams in the tournament but has Michigan and Rutgers participating in a play-in game, but not against each other.

Shelby Mast and Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

Our parent company's bracketologists have the Spartans as an 8-seed as well, and like Palm, taking on 9-seed San Diego State. And also like Palm and Lunardi, 1-seed Baylor awaits the winner in the second round.

And continuing another theme, they've got eight Big Ten teams in the field.

Brian Bennett, The Athletic

Eight continues to be the magic number for MSU, as Bennett has the Spartans heading to the West Region to take on 9-seed San Diego State - with Gonzaga as the 1-seed potentially waiting in the second round.

Eight is also the magic number for the number of Big Ten teams Bennett has in the field of 68.

Chris Dobbertean, SB Nation

You don't even need to read this paragraph to guess what seed Dobbertean has the Spartans, but we'll tell you anyway: They're on the 8-line, playing 9-seed Davidson, which would be very fun because Davidson's leading scorer is someone very familiar to MSU fans: Foster Loyer, who spent three years with the Spartans before transferring last offseason.

Awaiting the winner: 1-seed Kansas, which beat MSU 87-74 back on Nov. 9.

Contact digital sports reporter Phil Friend at 517-377-1220 or pfriend@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Phil_Friend.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Bracketology: Where Michigan State stands in NCAA tournament seeding