Tom Izzo lands first-ever No. 1 overall recruit in 5-star PF Xavier Booker

Nearly three decades after taking over the Michigan State basketball program, Tom Izzo lands his first-ever No. 1 overall recruit in Xavier Booker.

Tom Izzo has finally done it. He has finally landed his first-ever No. 1 overall recruit (according to Rivals) as Xavier Booker made his commitment official on Saturday afternoon.

The five-star big man from Indiana released a top 10 earlier this week and that must have expedited the process because it only took him five days to go from 10 to one.

Izzo’s hard work has paid off.

After attending basically every Booker game over the past year, the two developed a great relationship and the five-star felt like it was time to show love back. He officially becomes the highest-ranked commit Izzo has ever landed (I’m not going to count Emoni Bates for obvious reasons).

Booker is No. 1 overall on Rivals, No. 3 nationally on 247Sports, and No. 6 in the On3 rankings. The 247Sports Composite has him at No. 58 overall because, well, ESPN is disrespecting his game a little bit. I’d put money on ESPN updating their rankings and Booker becoming a top-10 player on there, too, which would make him a consensus top-10 recruit.

Izzo has spent years going after big fish and has landed some really impressive recruits like Jaren Jackson Jr., Shannon Brown, Kelvin Torbert, Gary Harris, Delvon Roe, Branden Dawson, Adreian Payne, and Joshua Langford but Booker tops them all. None of those guys were ever listed as the No. 1 overall recruit in the country.

After getting a ton of criticism this offseason (I’m guilty of adding to that) for not utilizing the transfer portal and going into the 2022-23 season with 10 scholarship players, Izzo has more than made up for it with a brilliant start to his 2023 class with Jeremy Fears (No. 42 nationally) and Booker.

If he can somehow add athletic sharpshooter Gehrig Normand (just offered), freak athlete Coen Carr (on an official visit this weekend), or Devin Royal (just named MSU in his top three), to complement Fears and Booker, this would be Izzo’s best recruiting class ever.

Who said Izzo couldn’t adjust?