Men's Basketball Ranked No. 1 In Polls
12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Michigan State has been voted the No. 1 team in the nation in both The Associated Press Top 25 and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, as both polls were released on Monday afternoon (Dec. 7). The Spartans received 62 of 65 first-place votes in the AP Top 25, ranking ahead of No. 2 Kansas, a squad MSU defeated in the Champions Classic in November. In the coaches poll, MSU collected 26 of 31 first-place votes, ranking ahead of No. 2 Iowa State.
This is just the fourth time in school history, the third time under Coach Tom Izzo and the eighth week overall that MSU has held the top spot in the AP Top 25. The Spartans were No. 1 for two weeks during the National Championship season of 1978-79, holding the top spot on Jan. 3 and Jan. 9. In 2000-01, MSU reached the top spot on Dec. 26 and Jan. 2. Most recently, MSU held the No. 1 spot for three weeks in 2013-14 (Nov. 18, Nov. 25, Dec. 2), posting a 4-1 record. The Spartans have an all-time record of 9-4 at No. 1.
"Trust me when I say this: I'm proud of what we've accomplished so far, but watching the football final four yesterday and realizing, in the last two years, where some people were ranked at the beginning of the year and where they ended up, it has no bearing on things," Izzo said. "But I am proud that, you know, we've played a better schedule than normal. We've always played a pretty good one, but we've played a lot of pretty good teams early."