It’s hard to believe that Coen Carr got even scarier this offseason, but judging by all the highlights that I’ve seen of the Michigan State star, it’s true.
Not only has Carr been dominating at Moneyball (a league-high 33.3 points per game), but he’s been putting on a show at practice already. Carr is hitting pull-up threes, he’s putting the ball on the floor and hunting his own shots, and he’s putting his poor teammates on posters.
We all knew that Carr was an explosive athlete, but he’s becoming an even more explosive basketball player than we saw during his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons.
Being explosive as a dunker and being explosive as an all-around player are two completely different things. Fortunately, it looks like Carr is both.
Need proof? Just watch the 15-second clip below (sorry, Ethan Taylor).
Coen didn’t have to do ET like that😭 pic.twitter.com/iTNQ6sxqU8
— Michigan State Hoops (@michsthoops) July 27, 2026
Yeah, Taylor is going to want the film burned after seeing Carr throw down in his face like that. It was almost disrespectful the way that Carr blew by Jordan Scott and despite seeing a 7-foot-2 center waiting for him, he rose up, cocked his arm back, and threw down one of the most insane dunks that you’re probably going to see all year. And it’s only July.
That dunk was only one-third of the impressive highlights from the short clip. He also blew by Julius Avent for another driving dunk where his face was literally at the rim and he looks to have added a hesitation dribble to his game which caught even Kaleb Glenn by surprise on another drive.
If Carr puts all of this together during his senior year, I don’t see how he’s not a first-team All-Big Ten selection and legitimate national player of the year dark horse.
Coen Carr is becoming what Michigan State needed in 2025-26
There was something missing from this past season’s team and Jeremy Fears Jr. did all he could to make up for it. The Spartans lacked a true go-to scorer and someone that they could rely on that wasn’t also running the offense. Every great Spartan point guard has had a reliable go-to scorer.
Carr is becoming that, it appears.
Jaxon Kohler showed flashes but he couldn’t carry the secondary scoring load on his own, Carson Cooper was more of a pick-and-roll threat, Scott came on late, and the rest of the roster was more so filled with role players who lacked consistency — Trey Fort didn’t pan out like we had all hoped.
The roster could have used an evolved Carr. He was a solid scorer, but he would disappear from time to time, getting lost in the corner with defenders expecting a back-door lob.
Now that he’s not just a lob threat, Carr is going to attract more attention from rim to 3-point line and that’s going to open up the floor for everyone else. Plus, if defenders do give him space, he can hit the occasional three and if they play him tight, he can blow by them like he did to Scott, Julius Avent, and Glenn in the highlights above.
I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited about his evolving bag.
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