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Michigan State Basketball: 5 most painful recruiting misses under Tom Izzo

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 24: Caleb Swanigan #50 of the Purdue Boilermakers post up Miles Bridges #22 of the Michigan State Spartans in the first half at the Breslin Center on January 24, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 24: Caleb Swanigan #50 of the Purdue Boilermakers post up Miles Bridges #22 of the Michigan State Spartans in the first half at the Breslin Center on January 24, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 03: Vernon Carey Jr. #1 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts after a second half basket against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on December 03, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. Duke won the game 87-75. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 03: Vernon Carey Jr. #1 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts after a second half basket against the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on December 03, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. Duke won the game 87-75. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

5. Vernon Carey Jr.

Until the very end, there were people who believed that Vernon Carey Jr. wanted to play for Tom Izzo and join a class with Malik Hall, Julius Marble and Rocket Watts. It would have given the Spartans one of the best classes in the country and likely would have further solidified that preseason No. 1 ranking.

However, just like we’ll see later in this list, all that confidence came down to the bitter end with Carey pulling a Duke towel out of his backpack, stating that he can’t wait to join “the brotherhood”.

It was an extreme gut-punch because the Spartans looked to be in good position with the Fort Lauderdale-based recruit who was ranked the No. 6 player in the class and third-best center.

Would he have helped Michigan State in 2019-20? Absolutely, there would have been no debate on who the starting center and power forward would have been as both he and Xavier Tillman could have started in the post and dominated.

Fortunately, it wouldn’t ultimately matter because there was no postseason. Still, it would have been nice for Michigan State to have more of a post game.

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