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Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Michigan State looks like a national contender in 2017-18.
One of the biggest reasons for that — aside from Miles Bridges returning — is a massive increase in front court size. Bridges and Nick Ward played most of the season as the “power forward-center” combination despite neither topping 6’8”. Behind them it was 6’6” Kenny Goins and, uh, not much else. That will not be the case next season.
MSU is set to welcome 6’9” Gavin Schilling back from injury and add 6’11” Jaren Jackson and 6’9” Xavier Tillman in the upcoming recruiting class. Heck, they may even get 6’9” Ben Carter back in the fold.
While it might seem like the size problem is all but addressed, one (literally) very large fish could still be reeled in — 5-star center Brandon McCoy.
The #11 overall prospect according to Rivals.com has whittled his choices down to five — Arizona, Michigan State, Oregon, San Diego State and UNLV — and was supposed to announce his college intentions last Thursday (coincidentally the same day that Bridges had his announcement EYE EMOJI) but decided to push it back.
Now, the San Diego resident plans to announce his decision in the next two weeks and it looks like MSU is going to get one of the last major chances to get in his ear. Per Scout.com’s UNLV Basketball Editor, Jeff Waddilove...
Izzo gets the final in-home. But McCoy comes to UNLV, not the other way around.
— Jeffrey Waddilove (@JeffWaddilove) April 16, 2017
Waddilove added that McCoy would be visiting UNLV’s campus sometime after that visit, but, if true, it’s hard not to get excited about this news. There are a lot of great programs in the mix for McCoy, but having a Hall of Fame coach pay your family a visit just before you announce could be fairly motivational.
Izzo hasn’t been the only Spartan trying to get him to East Lansing, either. McCoy and Jackson roomed together in Chicago during the McDonald’s All-American festivities and Jackson was fairly vocal about his recruiting efforts.
At this point, McCoy may appear to be a luxury, but he could take the Spartan front court from strength to super power.