Michigan State's NCAA championship odds continue to worsen as injuries pile up

After Christmas comes the long lines at the mall to return that shirt that’s two sizes too small, or the sweater your great aunt was sure you’d love. And as we all make our exchanges, it’s time to reevaluate some teams we were buying at the beginning of the season as title contenders.

Surely many Michigan State bettors are looking for the customer service counter, as the Spartans’ NCAA National Championship odds to win it all have dropped from second place at +1000 to +1600, just in the last week.

Odds to win the 2020 NCAAB National Championship 

Langford out

So what’s to account for Michigan State’s disappointing first half of the season? First of all, the loss of Joshua Langford. Langford had surgery earlier this month to fix a stress reaction in the middle of his left foot, a surgery which ended his senior season and marked his second foot surgery of 2019.

Langford had his first foot injury in December of last year, which sidelined him for the rest of that season and required surgery in February. Preseason voters, fans and bettors surely thought Langford would be back making an impact this season when he returned to practice in August. But his second foot injury came just a couple months later in October, marking the likely end of his college career.

Next man up

That leaves Sparty with big shoes to fill. Freshman Rocket Watts has stepped in, but missed the last three games with a lower left leg injury but looks to return soon after suffering a stress reaction in his lower left leg.

He started the first eight games of the season and averaged 6.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

Big Ten test looms for Michigan State

For a team with injury and depth issues, it would be nice to have a couple of cupcakes built into the latter half of the schedule to recover and regroup. But no such luxury has been afforded the Spartans.

As usual, the Big Ten is stacked and their conference schedule brings several marquee matchups. Of the remaining 19 games before their conference tournament, the Spartans will play nine against teams currently in the AP Top 25, including home and home series with No. 11 Michigan, No. 13 Maryland and No. 22 Penn State.

Keep an eye on Louisville, Ohio State and Gonzaga

While Michigan State’s season may have started with high hopes, it’s hard to imagine this already banged up team emerging from conference play and making a deep run in March. Current favorites Louisville (+900) face a big test in Lexington on Saturday, and Ohio State and Gonzaga are surging in a year with more parity than we’ve seen in recent college basketball history. Any of those teams could hold good value for bettors this season.

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