Michigan State opens its men’s basketball season Monday night at home against James Madison. Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch breaks down the Spartans’ roster.
PROJECTED STARTERS
PG A.J. Hoggard, 6-4, senior
Hoggard showed he can be a dynamic and even dominant lead guard last season. Now he’s got to show he can consistently be his best self. Among the differences between this year and last year is the Spartans’ intriguing depth at point guard. Izzo has options. The best of those is for Hoggard to play well and become a Big Ten player of the year candidate. He’s got the talent to do so. He’s as good as you’ll find in college basketball at getting downhill and creating for teammates or scoring. He can take over games. He also disappeared in a few games last season. Hoggard’s consistency, or lack thereof, will decide his season.
G Tyson Walker, 6-1, graduate
Walker is the surest thing on MSU’s roster — a bona fide shot-creator and shot-maker, who can play on and off the ball and has done it in pressure moments. With Walker, MSU knows that every night it has a guy who can go toe-to-toe with the opponent’s best scorer and find a shot when nothing else is working. Late last season, Walker also slid over to play point guard whenever Hoggard was ineffective or in foul trouble. In that role, Walker was both a luxury and necessity. This season, with freshman Jeremy Fears Jr. on the roster, Walker’s position will be even more off the ball, as an all-conference-caliber shooting guard and perhaps the best third-string point guard in college basketball history.
G Jaden Akins, 6-4, junior
Akins, at minimum, should be an efficient long-range shooter and All-Big Ten defender this season. He’s shown enough — including hitting better than 42% of his 3-point attempts last season — to know that’s his floor. If Akins had guarded Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell earlier in the Spartans’ Sweet 16 loss last March, MSU would have won that game. Akins is that kind of difference-maker on the defensive end. He showed it that night. The question is how much else Akins will do. When he returned to MSU after flirting with the NBA draft in April, MSU’s coaches assured him they’d expand his role in the offense. He wants to be more than a catch-and-shoot player offensively.
F Malik Hall, 6-8, graduate
Hall is the adult in the room, a guy who’s played with Cassius Winston and next to Xavier Tillman, who knows what it’s like to be a promising freshman and has endured a lot in his career heading into his final go-round. He’ll tell you he doesn’t care about stats or following up Joey Hauser’s breakout senior year with one of his own. He just wants to provide whatever is needed on a given night. But for MSU to get where it wants to go, it’ll need some things from Hall — for him to find his outside shot and to rebound and defend at a high level, and to be the savvy team defender who’s usually in the right place. If he does more than that — if he scores in the post or on the drive, which he’s done at times in his career — it’ll be a bonus.
C Mady Sissoko, 6-9, senior
The now-barrel-chested Sissoko looks ready for a fight with Purdue’s Zach Edey. He learned last year that he didn’t have the strength to deal with the bigger centers on MSU’s schedule. So he tried to become one. Sissoko will have an important role on this team, whether or not he remains the starter or is passed by sophomore Carson Cooper. MSU needs Sissoko to play aggressively constantly and to improve his defending both in the post and at the rim. He also needs to more consistently win on the glass. Sissoko is a formidable athlete, an elite screener offensively and a dangerous pick-and-roll big man against defenses that allow for it. If he also plays with tenacity and his increased strength allows him to hold up against formidable opposing big men, he’ll be an asset all season.
IN THE ROTATION
G Jeremy Fears Jr., 6-2, freshman
I think there’s a part of Tom Izzo that would like to start Fears and just see where the season goes. There’s another part of Izzo that’s grateful his freshman point guard has to battle for minutes and won’t have the late-game pressure that’ll likely fall on his older teammates, specifically A.J. Hoggard. Fears is a dynamic talent. He’s got bounce in his legs, a tantalizing combination of flair and grit to his game, and an edge to his on-court personality that makes him so intriguing to Izzo. On this team, Fears is likely to play 12 to 17 minutes per game off the bench, more if Hoggard struggles. If Fears is better than Tre Holloman was as a freshman last season — and I think he will be — he’ll raise MSU’s ceiling with both the minutes he provides as a backup point guard and how he pushes Hoggard.
G Tre Holloman, 6-2, sophomore
Holloman was supposed to be the odd man out this season. It doesn’t look like he’s going to let that happen. He’s stood out in practices, scrimmages and exhibition games as a seasoned sophomore happy to compete for his minutes and adjust in order to carve out a role. It appears he’ll often be playing alongside Jeremy Fears Jr. and be playing off the ball. Holloman is an ideal role player in that he’ll do whatever role is asked of him. That’s how he played so much as a freshman, realizing he needed to just be solid and not turn the all over as MSU’s backup point guard. Now he’s going to have to take and make more shots. So far, he’s shown he can do it.
C Carson Cooper, 6-11, sophomore
Cooper continues to prove he was a find as a late recruit a year ago. He grew as a player more than anyone else on the roster during the season last year. He added strength this summer, which should make his length, good hands and ability to run the court even more of a factor. Cooper has a chance to be pro by the time he’s done at MSU. He’s not explosive vertically, but he’s quick enough and rim-runs like a deer and catches the ball like he has Stickum on his hands. He’s a good fit to play in tandem with Mady Sissoko.
F Coen Carr, 6-5, freshman
There’s a chance that Carr becomes difficult to keep off the court. His strength attacking the glass and the rim make him stand out on a loaded roster. And when your attributes are different than what your teammates provide, you become valuable. If Carr limits his shots to open jumpers taken in rhythm and anything near the rim, and keeps rebounding and defending with vigor, he might play 20 minutes a game between the small and power forward positions.
PF Xavier Booker, 6-11, freshman
Booker’s length and skill give him a chance to grow into a decent-sized role this season. He’s shown he can shoot with range. His wingspan and vertical explosiveness make him a potential scorer around the basket and rim-protector unlike anyone else on the team. The question will be whether he rebounds with force and defends with attentiveness and understanding. MSU has the depth to let him figure it out. Once he does, he could be a difference-maker in February and March.
MORE: Couch: Predicting Michigan State’s basketball season – Duke, Arizona, Baylor, the Big Ten and beyond
IN RESERVE
G Gehrig Normand, 6-5, freshman
On a lot of MSU teams, Normand would be in the rotation, including last year. MSU’s coaches really like him. It’s just a numbers game. Normand, though, is one of the best shooters on the roster. That might be his ticket to seeing meaningful time this season. If MSU needs a shot-maker and Normand shows he’ll make shots when called upon, he could carve out a role for himself, playing a few minutes a game.
INJURED
F/C Jaxon Kohler, 6-9, sophomore
Kohler is out with a foot injury likely until Christmas. It’s too bad for him, because he had a tremendous offseason, reshaping his body and preparing for a sophomore season with the understanding of what it takes for him to produce in the Big Ten. It’ll be interesting to see what Kohler’s role is when he returns and where he plays most, center or power forward. If everyone else remains healthy and plays up to expectations, it’ll be a battle for Kohler to get consistent quality minutes. But seasons are rarely that smooth. If MSU has an injury at either the 4 or 5 position, Kohler will quickly become an essential player again. Either way, his offense has a chance to add something to MSU’s arsenal.
DEEP IN RESERVE
G Davis Smith, 6-0, senior
Tom Izzo has said isn’t afraid to play Smith in a pinch. He’s just on a roster with so many quality guards, it would take several injuries for him to find his way into the rotation.
‘HUMAN VICTORY CIGARS’
G Nick Sanders, 5-10, sophomore
Sanders is hoping to be known at MSU as more than just Barry’s son . For now, he’s also known as the other walk-on who comes in with the ever-popular Steven Izzo.
G Steven Izzo, 5-8, graduate
Steven Izzo remains the most popular walk-on in MSU basketball history. The only question is whether he’ll hit a shot this season in garbage time.
Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.