Michigan State Men's Head Basketball Coach Tom Izzo speaks to the crowd before the start of the Izzo Legacy 5K run Sunday, April 27, 2025. Robert Killips | Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

How Does New NCAA Ruling Impact MSU's Future Schedule?

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Tom Cavanaugh | Last updated Jun 26, 2025 2:00 PM ET

The Michigan State Spartans could be impacted for better or worse if this new NCAA college basketball ruling is set into place over the coming weeks. One that allows the Spartans to potentially improve or hurt their resume when seeking to keep the NCAA Tournament streak alive.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported that the NCAA Division I Council has approved to expand the college basketball regular season from 31 games to 32. It will go into effect for the 2026-27 season.

It may not be the biggest jump in games per year, but it certainly could help or hurt the Spartans depending on who they schedule.

Just one game could pay more dividends for certain schools and their chances to either make a push into the NCAA Tournament with a win or crumble their odds with a bad loss. This will probably enhance teams to schedule an extra Quad 1 or 2 team to help their chances.

For teams like Indiana, West Virginia or Ohio State, playing that extra game this past season very well could have helped their chances to make the tournament instead of being three of the first four teams out.

In MSU's case, it has not missed the tournament in over a quarter of a century but is a very big advocate of scheduling some of the best competition in the early going non-conference schedule. This coming season, MSU will play Kentucky, Arkansas, North Carolina and Duke. All Quad 1 and 2 teams.

An extra game could give the Spartans another opportunity to schedule a big-time program. This not only enhances their chances at a better seeding in March Madness, but it helps bring more publicity and attention to the program as they are consistently featured on big networks.

The revenue that will grow for the Spartans will be significant even with that one extra game, depending on the opponent that is scheduled. With new athletic director J Batt, it is almost certain the Spartans will a lump sum of cash from that additional game added to the non con schedule.

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