Michigan State basketball reaches out to Arizona State transfer Romello White

Michigan State basketball reportedly reached out to Arizona State transfer Romello White despite the Spartans’ need for guard depth.

There’s a clear need for Michigan State heading into the 2020-21 season and that happens to be at the point guard position. Tom Izzo has been recruiting seemingly around the clock despite the fact that his top target, Canada-native Karim Mane, declared for the NBA draft.

Sure, he could still decide to back out and go to college, but there’s also a chance he could choose to stay in and leave the Spartans searching for answers.

Izzo has to cover his bases and he could have an extra scholarship available to spend on the 2020 class if Xavier Tillman and/or Aaron Henry remain in the draft as well. There’s a good chance at least one of those guys returns and some feel that both should come back. Either way, Michigan State is looking to spend a scholarship for a guard to round out the roster.

But that hasn’t stopped Izzo from dipping into the grad transfer market and even looking at different positions. On Tuesday, Arizona State grad transfer Romello White, a forward, revealed that he had been hearing from a host of schools, including Michigan State.

Michigan State is one of two Big Ten teams to reach out to White along with Purdue, but there’s a good chance he’s staying down south closer to home. That’s why Georgia or Georgia Tech make the most sense here.

Still, this shows that Izzo is going to get the best players available and this could mean that he feels as if Tillman might be closer to staying in the draft than coming back to school.

White would be a heck of an addition for the Spartans after a stellar career with the Sun Devils, scoring just under 1,000 career points and averaging 10-plus points per game in two out of three seasons. He also averaged a career-high 8.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in 2019-20. He’s an improving free throw shooter, makes 57 percent of his shots from the floor but has no long-range game.

Could Michigan State make a push here or is White sold on the idea of playing for a hometown school? My bet would be on the latter, but the interest is intriguing.