Michigan State basketball: Should Spartans redshirt Marcus Bingham Jr.?

After a strong second-half showing against Northern Michigan, Michigan State basketball has a big decision to make regarding Marcus Bingham Jr.

Standing 6-foot-11 has its advantages, but weighing 235 pounds soaking wet with five-pound weights on both ankles does not. Marcus Bingham Jr. did all he could to squash redshirt talk on Tuesday evening as Michigan State beat Northern Michigan 93-47 in the lone official exhibition game.

Tom Izzo, like many Spartan fans, are worried that Bingham Jr. may not be strong enough to play college basketball just yet. There’s talk of using a redshirt on the talented freshman, which could give him a year to focus on his body and getting stronger, but his performance against Northern Michigan may have changed things.

Bingham Jr. was the last freshman to see the floor on Tuesday night and it’s fair to say he’s not the only freshman with strength concerns — Foster Loyer, too, has faced the same criticisms, but he’ll be playing big minutes out of necessity at point guard.

After playing just one minute in the first half, Bingham Jr. got more run in the final 20 minutes, finishing off with 12 points, including this monster put-back dunk:

Should the Spartans redshirt the ‘big’ man?

This is a tough one to answer, but for depth reasons, I’d have to go with no. While he may not be the strongest guy on the team and must add some muscle mass to be able to compete with other college basketball bigs, there’s nothing better for the freshman than experience. He’s seen what it takes to guard the best bigs in practice against guys like Xavier Tillman and Nick Ward and just needs to hit the weight room more.

Bingham Jr. clearly has the talent to play right away and if that means playing a few minutes off the bench each half to give Tillman and Ward breaks, that would be good enough.

As the year progresses, Bingham Jr. will get stronger, more confident and tougher in the post and that’ll be better than stashing him for a season when he could be learning on the fly.

The true freshman doesn’t need to play big minutes right away, but he will be necessary if the Spartans want to use depth to make a deep run in March.