Michigan State’s incoming class has a built-in theme: almost every newcomer arrives with a natural partner.
That’s part of what makes this group so intriguing for Tom Izzo. The Spartans are coming off an offseason that has been full of movement around the program, with school president Kevin Guskiewicz and athletic director J Batt both tied into the highs and lows surrounding the team. Through it all, the recruiting haul has stood out as one of the strongest in recent memory, with freshmen expected to carve out real roles right away even though they’re still new to college basketball.
The class includes five players - four freshmen and one transfer - and nearly every one of them has a clear fit beside someone else. Carlos Medlock Jr. is the exception.
Michigan State’s biggest roster need was at center, and that was the one obvious hole the staff had to address for its national title push. Izzo answered with two different options. Ethan Taylor arrives as the safer long-term bet, a highly regarded freshman coming out of high school, while Anton Bonke brings a much different background from a lower-competition school but carries the higher ceiling.
Those two are set up to help each other in different ways. Taylor can pick up lessons from Bonke about climbing the college basketball ladder, even if that climb happens only at MSU. Bonke, meanwhile, gets the benefit of sharing his game with another player in the same room.
The same kind of balance shows up with Jasiah Jervis and Julius Avent, even if their recruiting rankings sit at opposite ends of the class. The gap between them is smaller on the floor than it looks on paper. Jervis can pull defenders into the paint and open things up at the top of the key, while Avent has already shown enough shooting touch to stretch the defense and create more room inside.
Together, they give Michigan State a useful two-way effect by dragging defenders in different directions. That pairing should also mesh well with Jeremy Fears Jr., the team leader, if all three are sharing the floor.
Medlock Jr., though, doesn’t come in with that same obvious match. In a class where everyone else seems to have a built-in complement, he stands alone in the middle of the group.
That might actually work in his favor. He has plenty of veteran players ahead of him to learn from now, and eventually to replace when they move on.
He is also positioned to learn from Fears Jr. If Medlock Jr. develops anything close to that kind of player, his future will take care of itself. The lack of a pairing may not matter at all.
In Other News...
Latest Michigan Lawsuit Puts Rivalry Double Standard Back In Focus
Michigans football program is back in the spotlight for reasons that reach well beyond the field, with a new wrongful termination lawsuit adding another layer to a scandal that already brought NCAA fines, suspensions and probation. For Michigan State fans, the latest filing is another reminder of how quickly college footballs discipline can look different depending on the school and the moment, especially when a high-profile rivalry is part of the backdrop.
The case has revived the old double-standard conversation because the Wolverines punishment history now sits alongside fresh allegations about what university leadership knew and when they knew it. Michigan State supporters have seen their own program absorb the consequences of NCAA enforcement before, so every new development in Ann Arbor tends to invite comparison, and this one does so with a few unresolved questions still hanging over the story. [Read more 🡒]
Pat Fitzgerald May Already Have A Few Surprise Answers On Campus
Michigan States first spring under Pat Fitzgerald did not just sort out the obvious names. It also gave the Spartans a look at a handful of players who were not necessarily penciled in for much when camp opened, but kept showing enough to make the depth chart feel a little less settled. Wide receiver Charles Taplin, linebacker Adam Shaw, defensive lineman Carlos Hazelwood, redshirt freshman Cal Thrush and tight end Edward Whiting all surfaced in different ways during practices and scrimmages, which matters on a roster that is close to split between holdovers and newcomers.
Taplins rise was especially notable because he was getting first-team work at receiver by the end of spring, while Shaw spent plenty of time in the scrimmage working mostly with the second group after arriving as an early enrollee. Hazelwood looks like the kind of interior piece who can find a role in the line rotation, and Whiting is part of an unsettled tight end picture that still needs someone to separate. Thrush, meanwhile, has already made a physical jump that suggests the staff sees more than a developmental body, which is exactly the sort of internal progress Michigan State needs while it waits to see which of these surprise answers can hold up once the real competition starts. [Read more 🡒]