The Michigan State Spartans suffered several losses on the recruiting trail recently. Coach Tom Izzo has yet to land his first commitment from the 2025 class.
The Spartans were in the Top 3 for elite Top 25 five-stars Darius Adams and Jalen Haralson. Adams chose Connecticut and Haralson committed to Notre Dame. There were other top targets, too, that the Spartans couldn’t even get that close to.
Five-star in-state guard Trey McKenney left the Spartans off his top list as well as rising five-star guard Braylon Mullins.
At Big Ten Basketball Media Days, Izzo said it didn’t matter how close the Spartans did or didn’t get to landing a recruit.
“You might as well finish 900th,” Izzo said.
But for Izzo, who has led the Spartans over the span of four decades now, it is part money and it is part fit that determines who gets who. And now, everyone wants to play right away.
“Nobody’s coming to sit anymore. Jason Richardson came there and played 16 minutes a game,” Izzo said. “He was the No. 5 player in the country but it was a national championship team. … Draymond [Green] came there and played eight minutes a game. That ain’t happening anymore. I think Purdue and us have done it pretty similarly over the years – probably because of our mentors. I’d like to see Jud [Heathcoate], Gene [Keady] and Bobby [Knight] and Clem [Haskins], I’d like to see those guys when I first came into the league survive in this time. I think that people can get caught up in who you got, who you don’t got, and I think most kids are over-ballied anyway.”
Izzo also felt that the same problem of rushing young players to the spotlight is stunting their development for the NBA as well.
“I mean, they are drafting all these kids in the first round and it used to be nobody went to the G League in the first round and now over half the first round is spending a lot of time in the G League,” Pederson said. “Kids just aren’t ready. And that includes college. Money a little bit, but I think just the fact that you know, we got some good players [already] and got some good players that could be back. You know, that’s our problem. Does [Xavier] Booker get good enough and go, does somebody else get good enough and go? Does somebody else get unhappy and leave? But right now, that’s not the way it is. Kids will go different places now just to play, and some of that’s the NIL, they think the NIL opportunities will be bigger if you’re playing and scoring points. It’s a challenging part, but I’m cool where we are.”
Michael France is Sports Illustrated’s Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.
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