Michigan State came into the preseason carrying a No. 6 national ranking, but the Spartans have left their three exhibition games with more questions than answers. Two losses last week - first to No. 4 UConn at home Tuesday, then to unranked Marquette on the road Sunday - have turned what should have been an early tune-up stretch into a puzzle for Tom Izzo.
The biggest headache sits in the frontcourt. Izzo now has to sort out who plays at power forward and center, how long they stay on the floor, and which combinations actually hold up.
Right now, the situation around Anton Bonke is driving a lot of that uncertainty. The transfer portal addition was supposed to be Michigan State’s starting center, but his role has barely materialized.
Bonke played just six minutes against UConn and three at Marquette, and he spent the entire second half of both games on the bench.
That absence has opened up a minutes gap MSU didn’t seem prepared to face this soon. Bonke was never going to log 30-plus minutes a night at 7-foot-2, but a role closer to 20 minutes would have made sense. Instead, the load appears to be shifting toward Jesse McCulloch and Ethan Taylor, who look like the two best options to soak up most of the center minutes.
McCulloch has already shown he can bring offense to the position. He started at center against Marquette, and in the first exhibition against Incarnate Word he scored 20 points while starting at power forward.
Izzo has said McCulloch had the best offseason of anyone on the roster, but there’s still a learning curve here. He redshirted as a freshman, and he was phased out of the regular rotation late last season.
Taylor has offered something different. At 7-foot-1, he’s brought athleticism and a presence on defense, even if the spacing around him is still a concern offensively. There’s still value in what he can do with his passing, his court vision, and the baby hook he’s shown.
Even so, asking McCulloch and Taylor to carry that entire burden may be too much. Taylor has been a pleasant surprise, but whether he’s ready to be the first or second big man on a Big Ten or national contender is still an open question.
The four spot hasn’t exactly settled matters, either. It hasn’t drawn the same level of scrutiny as center, since Michigan State has more established options there, but the production has still been underwhelming. Three different players have started at power forward in the three exhibition games: McCulloch against Incarnate Word, Cam Ward against UConn, and Coen Carr against Marquette, when Carr’s presence helped move Jasiah Jervis into the starting lineup at shooting guard.
Carr, Ward, and McCulloch should end up handling most of those minutes this season. Carr can move between small forward and power forward, and while his October play has been shaky, he has improved every year in college. Michigan State likely needs to find better ways to give him room in transition, where he does his best work.
Izzo has also been publicly upbeat about Ward. Ward had a solid freshman season in 2025-26, and it might have been even better if a wrist injury hadn’t thrown him off track. Still, he hasn’t quite looked fully developed yet, and his free-throw form is beginning to resemble Shaquille O'Neal a little too much.
Then there’s Julius Avent, the wild card in the mix. He didn’t play against UConn but did get minutes at Marquette. Avent has a steep climb if he’s going to carve out a real role, though he should get chances early in the season as Izzo figures out how deep he wants to go each night.
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Oregons midseason shakeup adds another layer to a matchup Michigan State already had circled. Dan Lanning moved on from his offensive coordinator after the loss to Illinois, and the Ducks have now turned to former Spartans coordinator Jay Johnson in that role on a temporary basis. For Michigan State, it is the kind of storyline that makes a late-season trip a little more personal, because the staff on the other sideline now includes a familiar face from East Lansing.
The timing matters, too, because Oregon is trying to steady itself after a rough stretch that has included three losses and the season-ending injury to quarterback Dante Moore. Johnson stepping in gives the Ducks a different look offensively at a moment when they need answers fast, and Michigan State will get a chance to see how that transition settles in before it plays out on the field. [Read more 🡒]
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According to a report by Justin Spiro, that shift could show up in a major way this offseason, with Michigan State planning to spend in the high-$30 million range on its football roster. If that number holds, the Spartans would be putting themselves in the top five for Big Ten spending, a sign that the school is trying to speed up its rebuild rather than wait for it to happen gradually. The question now is whether that investment can translate into the kind of immediate competitive jump the program has been searching for. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Velling Reignites A Familiar Michigan State What-Might-Have Debate
Jack Vellings NFL path has already taken a familiar turn for Michigan State fans who remember the promise and the inconsistency from his two seasons in East Lansing. The undrafted rookie tight end landed with the Falcons after the preseason, only to be released, leaving him back in the market for another practice-squad opportunity as he tries to keep his pro career moving.
For Spartans followers, Velling is one of those players who naturally triggers the what-might-have-been conversation. His college stint offered flashes without fully settling into the kind of breakout run that changes a programs view of a player, and now his next stop will say plenty about whether there is still untapped NFL value waiting to be found. [Read more 🡒]