Couch: Tom Izzo can't hide how he feels about Jeremy Fears Jr., which is telling of Michigan State's freshman point guard
EAST LANSING – You can hear how much Tom Izzo likes Jeremy Fears Jr. every time he talks about him. I don’t think Izzo could hide it if he tried.
It’s the lofty comparison he makes, the toughness he sees, the signs of leadership Fears shows, the 18-year-old who’s more seasoned than most freshman guards. And there’s this:
“You can get on Jeremy. He can take it. And that's what I love about him,” Izzo said last week. “He's not being babied at all. We don't plan on babying him. But the problem is, he doesn't make a lot of mistakes because he has a very high basketball IQ. And he plays hard. … I ain’t worried about Jeremy Fears. He can take it.”
If you’re going to play point guard successfully for Izzo, you’ve got to be able to take it. And give it back. And know when it’s time for which.
“I don't think I’ve really earned or done anything to have that type of respect yet,” Fears said last week. “But, obviously, there are going to be some times and moments I feel like I see something and he sees something different. But right now I’m just really listening to him.”
MSU fans have been excited about Fears for a while now, ever since he began showing interest in the Spartans as a four-star recruit out of Joliet, Illinois. He’s the assumed heir apparent at point guard. The extent to which Izzo raves about him makes one wonder how quickly he’ll play a big role and what Fears could ultimately become. At 6-foot-2, even up to 190 pounds, his size makes him more likely to be a multi-year player than an early NBA prospect. His above-the-rim athletic bounce, though, essentially adds inches to his frame.
Among the dynamics at play that makes Fears’ arrival in interesting — this isn’t the roster he signed up for last November. He didn’t think ALL of MSU’s guards would be back for his freshman season. When Tyson Walker decided to return for an extra year — available to Walker because of the pandemic — it meant Fears would be joining a crowded backcourt, one where significant playing time wasn’t guaranteed, where starting was unlikely, where he wasn’t absolutely needed right away.
In the long run, competing daily against Walker, A.J. Hoggard and Jaden Akins will only benefit Fears. I sense he knows it. He says it anyway. In the short-term, it’s made every practice a dogged battle.
“I think it helped me so much. Just because I feel like if A.J. or Tyson or Jaden wasn't here, I would be lacking out on experience, being able to ask them questions, like how to do this or how to do that,” Fears said, “and able to help me and talk to me about certain things that they see when I mess up.”
There’s no coasting for the veterans, either.
“He's like just a young floor general. He wants his team to win every single day in practice,” senior forward Malik Hall said. “He’s pushed everybody to be the best that they can be.”
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Fears said his time with USA Basketball taught him how to deal with being a “seventh or eighth man,” how to use starting the game on the bench to his advantage.
He said late last week that his role was still up in the air — how much he'll play, who he'll play with, both on and off the ball. But Izzo made this much clear earlier this month:
“He’s gonna play,” Izzo said. “There have been a couple of those guys that just have IT. Not a lot of them. Jeremy Fears has it.
“He's helped (Xavier) Booker so much. He’s pushed him and pulled him and he just has a very good way of doing that. He spent time with Mateen (Cleaves). You're going to see Jeremy grow and grow and grow. And, in the meantime, he's going to still help us. We always think we know what's going on until all of a sudden somebody gets hurt, somebody beats somebody out. If there's one thing that I will say that I have learned this year, competition is good.”
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Cleaves is the comparison Izzo keeps invoking with Fears, in terms of having “it.”
Fears, to be frank, didn’t know who Cleaves was until Izzo started invoking that comparison. Fears was born five years after Cleaves finished playing at MSU.
“I started doing my research and watching highlights and videos,” Fears said. “His resume at Michigan State, it's kind of crazy — a lot of Final Fours, a national championship. So hopefully I can match that.”
In Year 1, the hope is that he plays more of a Jason Richardson freshman-year role, perhaps with a similar career arc, too — adding a gear off the bench on a loaded team, before taking over as a sophomore.
That’s a benefit Cleaves and Cassius Winston didn’t have when they first arrived as point guards. And neither of them were able to take MSU anywhere as freshmen.
Perhaps Fears’ place on this team allows Izzo to gush over him safely, knowing Fears will be able to grow into this season without the pressure of finishing games. Even so, Izzo doesn’t usually sound like this about a freshman point guard.
“There’s no question that I think Jeremy is going to be a great player here,” Izzo said.
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Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU basketball: Izzo can't hide how he feels about Jeremy Fears Jr.
