Michigan State Basketball: Level of concern for Tom Izzo “standing pat”?

Tom Izzo reportedly said he’s “standing pat” with Michigan State basketball’s roster heading into 2022-23, so how worried should we be?

For a little over a week now, I’ve been racking my brain, trying to come up with reasons Tom Izzo would decide to “stand pat” with his current Michigan State basketball roster heading into 2022-23.

It just hasn’t made a ton of sense.

Izzo watched as Marcus Bingham Jr., Gabe Brown, and Max Christie all declared for the NBA draft and kept their names in. All three decided to end their Michigan State careers with eligibility remaining and Christie was the big blow of the bunch because he spent just one season in East Lansing.

On top of those losses, Julius Marble decided to transfer closer to home at Texas A&M, and the only positive roster news outside of Tre Hollomon, Carson Cooper, and Jaxon Kohler joining the team with the 2022 class has been the return of Joey Hauser.

Izzo didn’t reach out to any of the top bigs in the portal despite losing Bingham and Marble and the two wings he targeted heavily — Micah Parrish and Jalen Bridges — wound up elsewhere.

Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal had a chance to speak with Izzo last week about his roster decisions and everyone’s nightmare was realized after seeing a single headline: Izzo is “standing pat.”

You can read the subscriber article below, but the headline was enough for me to question everything.

We’ve heard Izzo speak on podcasts and radio interviews about his roster in the new NIL and transfer portal era and he’s not completely adjusted yet. He knows he has to adapt, but he doesn’t want to mess with the culture at Michigan State. And if that means heading into each season with open scholarships, he’s going to do that.

Do I agree with it? Not really, but he’s a Hall of Famer and I’m just a blogger. He clearly knows more than me, but it feels like Michigan State will be at an extreme depth disadvantage because of this decision to make no more moves.

But Izzo likes what he has.

He has a really strong backcourt and there’s talent on the wings and in the post, but the depth is just not there. The Spartans are an injury or two away from being completely derailed.

Should we be worried about his decision to “stand pat” with his roster heading into the 2022-23 season? For depth purposes, absolutely. Talent-wise? This team will still be one of the better teams in the league. This will be one of the least deep teams in the Izzo era and that should worry everyone because the injury bug can bite without warning.

For those saying Michigan State probably won’t make the tourney, I think that’s a bit extreme. I do think that unless Mady Sissoko and Jaxon Kohler grow up quickly, it’ll be another early exit in March, but this team won’t be void of talent.

Depth is another issue.