March Madness 2023: Michigan State To Play In NCAA Tournament

EAST LANSING, MI — Despite not winning the Big Ten Championship, Michigan State did enough to earn a spot in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The Spartans (19-12) are the 7-seed in the east region, and will play the 10-seed USC Trojans (22-10) on Friday at 12:15 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio. The game will be televised on CBS.

With a victory, the Spartans would play the winner of 2-seed Marquette vs. 15-seed Vermont on Sunday. Big Ten foe Purdue Boilermakers are the No. 1 seed in the region.

Longtime Spartans Head Coach Tom Izzo has now taken the Spartans to their 25th straight NCAA tournament invitation, the all-time Division I record for the most consecutive appearances by one coach at a single school.

Izzo has taken the Spartans to eight Final Fours and won the national title in 2000. The eight Final Four appearances are the most by an active Division I coach, and rank fifth all-time behind Krzyzewski, John Wooden (12), Dean Smith (11) and Roy Williams (nine).

Selections were made Sunday for both the men's and women’s tournaments. Below are the major dates to know for the 2023 March Madness tournament and you can also get a Printable bracket.

• Selection Sunday: March 12
• First Four: March 14-15
• First round: March 16-17
• Second round: March 18-19
• Sweet 16: March 23-24
• Elite Eight: March 25-26
• Final Four: April 1
• NCAA championship game: April 3

Kansas is the defending national champion after the Jayhawks defeated North Carolina to win the national title last year. Alabama enters this year's tournament as the overall No. 1 seed and is joined by fellow top seeds Purdue, Kansas, and Houston heading into this week's opening round of games.

Kansas, which lost in the Big XII championship game to Texas, has less than an 8 percent chance of repeating, according to oddsmakers.

Both the Crimson Tide and Cougars were among the favorites to return to the championship this year. The odds for the top five were as follows, according to DraftKings:

• Houston : +475 (17.4 percent chance)
• Alabama: +650 (13.3 percent chance)
• Purdue: +1000 (9.1 percent chance)
• UCLA: +1200 (7.7 percent chance)
• Kansas: +1200 (7.7 percent chance)
• Texas: +1400 (6.8 percent chance)