Michigan State basketball: 5 tasks for Tom Izzo and the Spartans this offseason

If there was any question about Tom Izzo’s intentions to remain Michigan State basketball's coach for a while, he removed it with a statement that he immediately planned to hit the recruiting trail the day after Saturday’s second-round NCAA tournament loss to No. 1 seed North Carolina.

“I haven't finished what I want to accomplish,” Izzo said in the hallway in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the Spartans’ 85-69 loss to the Tar Heels. “This one is gonna sting a little longer, because I think there were times you saw a very good basketball team. But consistency is what we've always preached in this program. And we were consistently inconsistent.

“I have to be held accountable for that.”

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MSU finished 20-15 after entering the preseason with a top-five ranking and national championship aspirations. Instead, it will sit and watch at home as the final 16 teams fight for a Final Four berth (including four not far from home, at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena).

Since winning a share of the 2020 Big Ten title right before the NCAA tournament was canceled — arguably MSU's most recent shot at a deep tourney run — the Spartans are 79-55 overall and 41-38 in conference play. That is the worst four-year stretch of Izzo's 29-season, Hall of Fame career. His eighth and most recent Final Four appearance came in 2019, and his program has made it out of the first weekend of the NCAAs just twice since 2016 (with last year’s Sweet 16 run being the other).

“I still think we underachieved,” Izzo said, “and I think a lot of that falls on me.”

So what’s next? Here are five things Izzo and the Spartans must address in the coming months, with a roster in flux and the altered landscape of college basketball (and major college sports in general) revolving around transfers and NIL collectives.

1. Get Jeremy Fears Jr. healthy

It seems unlikely that three-year starter A.J. Hoggard will return at guard for a fifth season. That makes getting Fears back to full strength after he suffered a gunshot wound to his upper left leg Dec. 23 is of the utmost priority, particularly because Izzo is eager to hand the keys to his team over to the point guard heading into his sophomore season. Fears said he does not expect to be back to full basketball activities until the summer, even though he has progressed in his rehab to the point of taking jumpshots and working in non-contact drills. In the 12 games before he was lost for the season, the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder showed the type of toughness Izzo seeks from his hardwood quarterback, along with quickness as a defender and athletic ability to both get past and elevate above defenders on offense. Fears averaged 3.5 points, 3.3 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 0.8 steals over 15.3 minutes a game in his first collegiate action, and he showed the floor leadership and vision to make others around him better — “a guard that I think can run a team,” Izzo said. And in many ways, a healthy Fears is a throwback to some of the best Izzo has had at MSU.

2. Replacing Tyson Walker and Malik Hall

Aside from Walker’s dip due to a groin injury, he and Hall proved to be the Spartans’ steadiest producers at both ends of the floor for much of the season. The two fifth-year seniors averaged a combined 31.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists while each starting all but one game. They also totaled 74 of MSU's 227 3-pointers and 82 of the Spartans’ 247 steals. Jaden Akins, with one year of eligibility remaining, could step into Walker’s starring spot at shooting guard, but the third-year junior has been a streaky shooter while playing undersized on the wing at 6-4. Figuring out a replacement for 6-8 Hall might be more difficult, based on his ability to direct traffic on the defensive side and guard multiple types of opponents. Xavier Booker appears a likely candidate to step in at small forward, with the 6-11 freshman backing up Hall down the stretch and delivering some outside shooting. But he also struggled defensively and needs to show more ability to score inside rather than just hovering around the 3-point arc — though that part of Booker’s game improved in the final month.

3. Figure out post problems

The trio of senior Mady Sissoko and sophomores Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler struggled all season. Some of that can be attributed to Kohler’s October foot surgery that hampered Izzo’s ability to divvy up roles and minutes for maximum production until the final two weeks of the season. As Cooper moved into a starting role, Sissoko rediscovered energy coming off the bench and aggressively attacked the boards. Kohler, meantime, remained in a limited capacity but started showing the deft footwork and ability to get offensive rebounds he displayed as a freshman a year ago. With 6-11 incoming freshman Jesse McCullough joining the mix in the summer, and with Sissoko up in the air about whether he will come back for a fifth season, there could be further shakeup going into next season on the block.

4. Look outward

Fans say Izzo hates using the portal, but his two best players the past two seasons started their careers at other schools: Walker (Northeastern) and Joey Hauser (Marquette). Pre-portal, Izzo went after pieces via transfer such as Bryn Forbes, Mike Chappell and Eron Harris, among others. He also eschewed graduate transfers at first but brought in Brandon Wood and Ben Carter in the past decade to fill holes. But so much has changed in the past three years, particularly with NIL collectives swaying players’ transfers at a rapid rate. Izzo tried carrying only 12 scholarship players the past two seasons, giving an open scholarship each of those years to walk-on Davis Smith. Kohler’s foot injury and Izzo’s reliance on Sissoko’s development that never materialized leaves things in limbo of how he will approach this offseason. MSU has 11 scholarships accounted for, assuming all of the underclassmen return. Sissoko coming back would be 12, with one more remaining if Hoggard leaves. If other players leave, there will be more reason to go to the portal. Izzo could actively look for another big-bodied post player or potentially the longer, more athletic wing his team has been missing the past two seasons. There also is the possibility of staff turnover: Finding new, younger coaching blood from beyond his own program is another way outsiders have accused Izzo of not adapting to his sport.

5. Look inward

For 29 seasons, Izzo’s core philosophies have been clear. Among them: Run a family-oriented system, shaped with discipline, honesty and recruiting integrity. The constant changes to the NCAA rules in the past four years, particularly with how NIL and the opportunities for immediate (and multiple) transfers for athletes, have complicated that. Izzo has placed the onus on himself to be better, singling out his failure to reach Hoggard about leadership until the final weeks. That falls in the realm of getting players to play tough and hard, which he has bemoaned in recent years as increasingly difficult to get out of modern athletes.

“I'm really, really disappointed with me, that I didn't do a better job,” Izzo said. “And I'm not trying to take any heat off them. I just gotta do a better job. And I'm gonna do a better job. ... There'll be nobody — you don't have a candle to hold to how hard I'll be on myself compared to the other people. It won't even be close.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball's offseason to-do list for Tom Izzo