It's Time For Tom Izzo To Unleash His Freshmen
Tom Izzo has a blueprint for success that has worked for decades now. Michigan State men’s basketball has made 25 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, which is the second-longest active streak behind only Kansas (33). The Spartans are likely to earn a bid again this March, but this season hasn’t always been pretty to watch.
A team that started this season ranked Top 5 in the country is now 12-8 overall and 4-5 in conference play. While part of those struggles can be credited to playing a tough schedule, the Spartans have not done themselves many favors.
Throughout his career, Izzo puts most responsibility on his veteran players’ shoulders, and this year that has been Malik Hall, Jaden Akins, Tyson Walker and AJ Hoggard. The offense mostly runs through Walker and Hoggard, while Hall and Akins are heavily relied on defensively and in rebounding. All four average over 25 minutes per game and MSU has struggled when one of these four haven’t played well.
That problem is in the hands of Izzo, who has committed to playing a short rotation despite signing a Top 5 recruiting class last offseason. After the preseason excitement surrounding the Spartans’ depth, Michigan State’s freshmen have mostly been sidelined. There’s no accounting for freshman point guard Jeremy Fears, who was the unfortunate victim of a shooting over Christmas break and may be out the remainder of the season, but it’s time for freshmen forwards Coen Carr and Xavier Booker to take on larger roles.
Michigan State’s frontcourt rotation has been an issue since the beginning of the season. Mady Sissoko and Carson Cooper take majority of the minutes and, while they’ve contributed overall, both players are limited offensively. Jaxon Kohler has seen limited minutes since coming back from injury and seems to be still catching up to speed. But the lack of minutes for Carr and Booker have been a hot topic for months. It isn’t unusual for Izzo to make freshmen earn their way onto the floor early in a season, but halfway through the year not much has changed for the two freshmen forwards.
Booker has been a healthy scratch for six games and struggles to get minutes at meaningful times even when he does play. In the limited playing time, the former five-star has shown he can help offensively with his ability to stretch the floor with his shooting. Carr has played in every game this season, but has not seen his minutes increase, averaging under 13 minutes per game in conference play. While he’s a bit undersized at power forward, the freshman could help relieve some minutes from Hall, who’s been much more effective in first halves than second halves this season. While Carr sometimes gets out of position defensively, his athleticism makes up for some of those errors. He’s also a solid rebounder and can guard any position on the floor except center.
There’s no guarantee that making Carr or Booker a bigger part of the rotation will improve this team, but it’s clear MSU’s frontcourt needs help. While Kohler’s return gives the Spartans more of a scoring threat at center, he isn’t likely to play more minutes than Sissoko or Cooper. That’s where the two freshmen come in, as both can be scoring options for the Spartans in the frontcourt. Booker may not have the strength of a college forward yet, but he has the size and length to make an impact, and his defense could improve with experience. Carr is a threat in the fastbreak, and has been weaponized as a baseline cutter opposite ball-side. Opposing defenses always have to know where he’s at on the floor because of this.
It’s hard to remember the last time Izzo has been this stubborn about not playing freshmen, let alone anyone. We’re not at practice to see what’s happening on a daily basis, but based on what we’ve seen from Michigan State this season, it appears the freshmen could be helpful in larger roles. As tournament season creeps up, the Spartans are still on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Carr could be the player they need to get them into the tournament. Kohler could be the player who gets them an extra day off in the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans will keep their tournament streak alive, but if they want to make a deep run, something (or someone) needs to give.
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