Michigan State Basketball: How can the Spartans fix itself for rest of 2023-24 season?

2. Play Smaller

Booker is by no means the cure for what ails the Michigan State frontcourt, but it is a start. I know there are numerous fans in East Lansing who just want to see the best five players out on the floor for Michigan State. It appears that Coach Izzo may be realizing that as well. The Spartans have always had enough talent to play small and still win games. Just look at Denzel Valentine and Draymond Green. Those guys were not the tallest players in the world, but they were effective and won a ton of games in green. Play small coach Izzo it would make this team far more athletic and quite honestly better defensively. 

Freshman Coen Carr is a freak athlete who can do a lot of things on the basketball court. He is a matchup nightmare for everyone and once he starts to get more acclimated into the college game, he is going to be a star. He is only 6’5” so it would be playing small, but he plays much bigger than his height. Pair Carr with Booker and Malik Hall and that is a formidable front court that should win the Spartans some games. Those three will provide defense, scoring and athleticism which right now the Spartans lack all three in the paint. Reinforcements are coming in the way of Jaxon Kohler. Kohler is currently out with a foot injury but when he comes back, he will also provide a needed boost to the front court. 

We all know coach Izzo is going to get creative and is likely going to play small. At this point it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have 4 guards and Malik Hall as the starters. There are a ton of combinations that are better than what the Spartans are currently running out there. I don’t know exactly what coach Izzo is going to do but expect some changes in the Baylor game and going forward. Something must change and it all starts on Saturday against Baylor.