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Michigan State Basketball: Ideal starting 5 for 2021 Big Ten Tournament

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 25: Rocket Watts #2 and Aaron Henry #0 of the Michigan State Spartans walk onto the court after a time out in the first half of the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Breslin Center on February 25, 2021 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 25: Rocket Watts #2 and Aaron Henry #0 of the Michigan State Spartans walk onto the court after a time out in the first half of the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Breslin Center on February 25, 2021 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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The Big Ten Tournament is upon us for the first time since 2019 and Michigan State basketball should run these five out there to start.

For the first time in two years, Michigan State is preparing for the Big Ten Tournament which will actually happen this time around. Last year, the conference tourney was cancelled due to COVID-19 just getting to the U.S. but now fans will be limited with the festivities still proceeding.

It’s a good feeling knowing that March Madness will actually happen this year after a restricted regular season with little to no fans in the stands.

Michigan State is on quite the run heading into the conference tourney (stop us if you’ve heard that one before) and the Spartans went from having their bubble bursted to being safely in the 2021 NCAA Tournament field in the matter of a couple weeks.

If they want to improve their seeding from the 10-12 range, they’ll need to construct the perfect lineup for the conference tournament and make a run to the finals.

What should the starting five look like as the Big Ten Tournament is set to get underway?

After watching his confidence buzz against Michigan in the regular season finale with 21 points, I’m pretty confident Rocket Watts just needs more trust from Tom Izzo.

What better way to show trust than to give him his starting job back? AJ Hoggard has been decent in short stints this year and has even started a handful of games, but his offensive game needs a lot of work. Izzo has to trust Watts more at this point and he’s been using the sophomore at point guard quite a bit in recent games.

Sunday’s showing against Michigan was all I needed to see to give him the nod here at point guard and he can even split ball-handling duties with a couple of other guards in the starting five.

If Watts’ confidence carries over into the Big Ten Tournament, the starting five is going to flourish. He can blow by any defender and just needs to work on his finishing. The floaters are nice when they’re falling, but I’d like more finishing at the rim or dishing out for an open three with defenders collapsing.

Watts should be a staple in the starting five moving forward.

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