Michigan State basketball needs Marcus Bingham to right the ship

Marcus Bingham has been one of the most impactful players for Michigan State basketball and has shown Tom Izzo that he earned more time on the court.

Michigan State’s 2022 season has hit a breaking point. The Spartans have now lost five of the last six highlighted by the disaster that was Tuesday night, a blowout lost to a mediocre Iowa team. The season is spiraling out of control and I’m here to offer a solution on the one man that could possibly fix this: Marcus Bingham.

Bingham has been an enigma for Tom Izzo ever since he arrived on campus. With moments of greatness overshadowed by inconsistent play, Izzo has struggled to manage his playing time. Now as a senior starting for a team who, at least at one point, had Big Ten championship aspirations still only finds himself averaging less than twenty minutes a game. This has to change and should if the team wants to find success come March.

Despite all of Bingham’s consistencies overall he’s been the best player on the team this season. This is most clearly seen on the defensive side of the ball where Marcus is nothing short of excellent. Bingham currently holds a block percentage of 12.98 percent for his career, higher than any other Big Ten player the past 13 seasons. It’s not just the flashy plays he makes on defense either, Bingham has a defensive rating of 86, according to college basketball references, best on the team among players who have played over 50 minutes — 13.7 points better than the next starter, Joey Hauser.

Everyone already knows Bingham is great defensively, what some may not know is that he is also elite on the other side of the ball. Some may dismiss this looking at his measly point total of 9.2 but the numbers don’t lie that he has been an extremely effective offensive player this year. Bingham is currently third on the team in true shooting percentage, a stat that tries to rate the efficiency of a player’s scoring, and fourth in terms of offensive rating. Both of these numbers are indicative of a player who should see the floor more than 20 minutes a game.

The most obvious sign of why Bingham needs to play is just looking at how the team plays when he is on versus when he is off the floor. The prime example of this was when the Spartans went on the road to play Illinois on Jan. 25. In this game, Bingham led all MSU scorers with 13 points and was his typical elite defensive self. Yet he only played 18 minutes in a game the Spartans lost by a single point. According to box plus-minus, a stat made to judge the impact someone has when they’re on the court, Bingham was a plus 37.4. This is an absurdly impressive number and it’s not a bridge too far to say if he plays more they win this game easily.

The Illinois game isn’t a one-time occurrence either; Bingham leads the team in box plus-minus by almost double the next best player. Yet despite this, he is seventh on the team in total minutes played. While Tom Izzo’s chance at a Big Ten championship is over, he may still have a chance at a run in March if Marcus Bingham spends more time on the floor.