Michigan State Basketball: Predicting stat leaders for 2020-21 season

Blocks: Marcus Bingham Jr.

If you couldn’t already tell, I’m expecting a big year out of Marcus Bingham Jr. He’s back for his junior season and (potentially) ready to take that Adreian Payne-type of jump.

The potential is there — there’s never been a question about that — but he has to add some quality weight and utilize his length and athleticism. He has an advantage with that length and he can stretch the floor for an athletic big, but he hasn’t done enough of that.

What Bingham Jr. did do in 2019-20, however, was improve on the defensive end and that was never more evident than in a matchup with Illinois in East Lansing when he helped Xavier Tillman shut down Kofi Cockburn.

Bingham Jr. is back as the lead returning shot-blocker, averaging 1.4 a season ago behind Tillman’s 2.1. While I don’t think he’ll surpass Tillman’s numbers from last season, he could get much closer to that 2.0 mark.