Every offseason, at least a few Michigan State basketball players take massive steps forward, carrying the torch of the seniors who just developed and passed it on to them.
This season, it felt like every single player took a step forward in their development, but now Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper will be passing the torch on.
A few guys will be facing huge offseasons, needing to grow the most as players if Michigan State wants to be playing in Detroit next spring while chasing Tom Izzo's second title.
These three face the biggest offseasons of anyone on the roster, in my opinion.
Jeremy Fears Jr.
How could the best player on the team be facing the biggest offseason? That title is reason enough. While he might be Michigan State's best player and an All-American, the Spartans' season was cut short after he played arguably his worst game of the year against UConn. That has to fuel him, and if he never wants that feeling again, he needs to make sure he's ready for a run to Detroit next year.
Working on that jumper, cleaning up the finishing at the rim through traffic, and cutting down the silly extracuricular stuff that everyone is looking for would be a nice start.
If he wants to be the next Mateen Cleaves like Izzo always says, he's got a lot of work to do, but his first two full seasons have been pretty fun. It's time for that next step.
Coen Carr
This one should go without saying because Michigan State may have been one more All-Big Ten performer away from a Final Four this season, and that could have been Coen Carr.
The junior played well for most of the season, but his biggest struggle outside of that 3-point jumper and those free throws was consistency. Carr needs to work on that shooting touch, but he also needs to work on driving to the basket because when he's slashing with a head of steam, not many defenders can slow him down. That move can be automatic next year.
Obviouslt his top priority has to be shooting, but once he realizes that he can be dominant when he drives to the basket against smaller defenders, he's going to be really good -- hopefully All-Big Ten good.
Cam Ward
You might be surprised to see Cam Ward here, but I'm telling you that he has the talent to become an All-Big Ten caliber forward at some point in his career and all you need to do in order to believe that is look at how he started the season for Michigan State.
Ward, a true freshman, scored five points with four rebounds in his first-ever collegiate game against Colgate and then followed that up with an 18-point, 10-rebound breakout game against No. 14 Arkansas at the Breslin Center. He looked like he had arrived. Until the Duke game, he was playing between 15 and 18 minutes per game, but then he suffered a wrist injury and missed the Oakland game right before facing the Blue Devils.
He was never quite the same.
With the post looking a little bare after Cooper and Kohler depart, it's going to be up to someone in the post to rise up and become that next star down low. I expect that to be Ward with a healthy offseason.