Michigan State Basketball: Ideal starting 5 for 2021 NCAA Tournament

As the conductor of the Marcus Bingham Jr. hype train, I’m here to tell you that Michigan State is just a better team when he’s on the floor. The numbers simply do not lie.

If you look at his plus-minus over the past few weeks, he’s consistently at the top of the list of Spartans. Bingham is so effective on the defensive end of the floor that his big stops usually lead to points on the other end. When he’s defending at a high level, Michigan State is usually winning games. But the problem is, he rarely plays 20-plus minutes.

In fact, he’s averaging just over 11 minutes per game this season and he’s played over 20 minutes just one time and that was in a big win over Michigan in which he scored five points with eight rebounds, three steals and a block. Because he was such a force, he helped MSU pull off the upset.

On the year, when Bingham plays 15 or more minutes, Michigan State is 6-1. When he plays less than 10 minutes, Michigan State is 2-6.

Basically, when he plays big minutes, Michigan State usually wins.

Tom Izzo needs to finally give him the start at center and play him at least 15-20 minutes if Michigan State wants to make a deep run.