Michigan State Basketball: Are Spartans trending upward or downward as a program?
By Ryan Kay
The Spartans have a legitimate chance to win a national title in 2024
Fast forward to the present day, and Michigan State basketball has had an up-and-down past three seasons. They haven’t lived up to the expectations set by the 2018-2019 team or even the 2019-2020 team, but they have a great opportunity for the 2023-2024 season to make a run in the NCAA Tournament and possibly win a national championship.
Going back to the last three seasons, Michigan State basketball has experienced a range of successes and disappointments over the past three seasons. The highs of winning Big Ten championships and making it to the Final Four prior to the 2020-2021 season have been tempered by early exits and missed opportunities these past seasons. However, the Spartan’s last season has given reasons why they can do very well this upcoming season. If next season’s team continues to fight and grow, fans can look forward to what the future holds. There are many reasons why Michigan State can have an amazing season next year and here is why.
Reason No. 1
Michigan State brings back five of their six leading scorers from last season. Walker announced that he is coming back as well as Hall which will make the Spartans have tremendous depth, especially in the backcourt with Hoggard, Jaden Akins, Walker, and incoming freshmen Jeremy Fears Jr. anchoring arguably the best backcourt for the 2023-2024 season.
Reason No. 2
The Spartans bring in the No. 3 national recruiting class for the upcoming season led by top-8 recruit Xavier Booker and there are 4 incoming Michigan State freshmen in this class. The class also addresses two big needs for the Spartans, one of them being wing players to attempt to replace the production lost by Hauser in Coen Carr and Gehrig Normand and scoring upfront with the addition of Booker.
Reason No. 3
Experience with the infusion of talented incoming players. Having the experience that Walker, Hall, Hoggard, and Sissoko bring back for this upcoming season along with talented incoming freshmen like Booker and Fears Jr. is somewhat similar to the makeup of the 2000 national championship team that had two seniors and two juniors lead them as well a very talented freshman play in Jason Richardson. This blend of talented youth and experienced proven scorers is a formula for success for this upcoming season.
Time will tell if the Spartans win the Big Ten regular season championship which is a high priority for Tom Izzo and his program as well as possibly winning a Big Ten Tournament championship and more importantly, reaching the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
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Unless there is a very unexpected valuable player who transfers this offseason, the Spartans are a more than likely preseason top-three team heading into next season. They will have the opportunity to do very well next season but nothing is guaranteed.