Michigan State basketball enters the season next week as one of the top seeds in ESPN's preseason NCAA Tournament bracket projection.

With the college basketball season set to officially tip off next week, Joe Lunardi of ESPN has released an early projected look at the new 76-team NCAA Tournament for this upcoming March. To no surprise, preseason top 10 Michigan State is listed in his field, but where did they exactly land?

Michigan State came in as the No. 2 seed in the South Region in Lunardi's projection. The Spartans are projected to play the winner of No. 15 seed Montana State and Wright State in a first round matchup from Pittsburgh.

Michigan State is one of 11 teams from the Big Ten included in the projected NCAA Tournament field from Lunardi.

It's obviously a long ways away from March and Selection Sunday, but this early look does give an idea of the preseason expectations for Michigan State. This shows the Spartans should again be near the top of the sport and in contention to get to their first Final Four since 2019.