Michigan State Basketball: Tom Izzo’s top recruiting victories
The relative of current Michigan State five-star target for 2017, Brian Bowen, Jason Richardson was one of Izzo’s prized possessions on the Final Four team in 2001.
Michigan’s Mr. Basketball winner in 1999, just one year after current MSU assistant Dane Fife won the award in 1998, Richardson was a highly-regarded recruit out of Saginaw. He personified the toughness and athleticism that was Michigan State Basketball in the late 1990s and early 2000s, helping leading MSU to two straight Final Fours.
Again, this Richardson is one of the few guys on this list who was recruited before prospect rankings were blown up like they are today, but he was considered one of the top 10 or 15 players in the nation and definitely lived up to that billing in his two years.
Richardson didn’t play a ton during his freshman season, averaging just under 16 minutes and putting up 5.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He was a stashed talent on an team littered with stars that won the 2000 national title.
Izzo definitely won big time with this elite talent as he produced greatly as a sophomore. He averaged nearly 29 minutes per game and scored 14.7 points and grabbed 5.9 rebounds while improving his three-point shooting percentage from 29 percent as a freshman to over 40 percent as a sophomore.
Richardson was one of the most athletic players in MSU history and that helped him get drafted after his sophomore season No. 5 overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. He had a very successful career, riddled with double-digit point per game average seasons and multiple Dunk Contest titles.
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