Basketball Recruiting: Michigan State makes top-10 for four-star forward Terry Armstrong

It’s been a slow start for the Michigan State Spartans on the 2019 basketball recruiting front. MSU currently has zero commits, which is a bit strange compared to this time last year when the program had already secured four commits, with a fifth coming in early September.

But that could be changing soon. Four-star small forward Terry Armstrong has narrowed his list to 10 schools, including Michigan State. He announced his finalists over the weekend.

Back to my earlier point, while it may seem a bit unusual that MSU has yet to land any verbal commitments, it’s not all that uncommon anymore, as recruits are wisely taking more time to make such big decisions. Even perennial powerhouse Duke — who MSU is currently battling for a lot of recruits — is yet to receive any commitments. Now, let’s get back to Armstrong.

Armstrong is a four-star small forward who is originally from Flint, and began his career at Carman-Ainsworth. After a couple other stops (without playing basketball), he now plays for Bella Vista Prep in Scottsdale, Arizona. According to the 247Sports Composite, Armstrong ranks as the No. 16 small forward in the country, No. 2 player in the state of Arizona and No. 55 player nationally.

He is listed at 6-feet-6-inches tall and weighs 185 pounds. Armstrong also has the ability to play the shooting guard spot, which is what Rivals lists his position as. Rivals also sees him as a four-star, and ranks him 60th in the nation.

According to the 247Sports Crystal Ball, Michigan State is the favorite to land Armstrong. He is one of MSU’s top targets, and with predictions from five total experts, the Spartans currently have 100 percent of the vote.

Per MLive, Armstrong put up impressive numbers as a junior last season. He averaged 24.3 points per game against national competition. He also fared well in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball summer circuit.

The other nine schools on Armstrong’s finalist list includes Xavier, Oregon, Mississippi State, LSU, Arizona, Arizona State, New Mexico, Florida State and Oklahoma. He is yet to officially visit any school, but has made unofficial visits to Arizona, Arizona State and Xavier. Tom Izzo and Michigan State will look to get Armstrong to East Lansing soon.

Four-star power forward Drew Timme, out of Richardson, Texas, also recently included Michigan State on his top-10 finalist list. MSU is the current favorite to land Timme as well.