During Michigan's 8-0 start, Morez Johnson Jr. has been doing it all — and perhaps even more than anyone Dusty May has ever coached before.

Michigan State basketball has just suffered its first loss of the season with a six-point heartbreaker against the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils. In the final

SportsLine's model simulated Duke Blue Devils vs. Michigan State Spartans 10,000 times and revealed its college basketball picks for the non-conference matchup at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich.

And losing yet again to Duke – Izzo is now 3-15 all-time and 0-3 at Breslin Center against the Blue Devils – adds to the angst and anger of the initial impressions of how things went awry in the final two minutes. Especially because, to Izzo, it was effort-related issues from the Spartans and not a chasm of talent between the two teams.

The tough schedule continues for Michigan on Tuesday as it welcomes Villanova in another “March Madness” type matchup.

Villanova contest will pit the top defensive rebounding team against one of the best offensive rebounding teams in college basketball.

It’s obviously very early in the season, but models like KenPom and ESPN’s BPI show that Michigan Basketball is a serious national championship contender:

Wisconsin pulled off the upset by shutting down MSU's and head coach Robyn Fralick's fast-paced offense. Michigan State entered the game averaging 96.4 points per game; the Spartans' 64 points are the fewest this season.