College basketball expert raves about Carlos Medlock Jr.: ‘He’s a certified gangster’

“If Tom Izzo could design a guard in a lab of all his favorite players in the past, he would come up with something like Carlos Medlock Jr.”

Those words from 247Sports national college basketball director Eric Bossi stood out from a recent podcast where he talked about who some of the best freshmen in the country will be this season. He raved about Medlock and said that he’s the perfect fit in Izzo’s system because he’s everything that the Hall of Famer looks for in a player.

During that podcast with two other college hoops experts, Bossi called Medlock a “certified gangster” which is the second glowing recommendation that he got on the podcast episode. CBS Sports college basketball writer Isaac Trotter called him a “stone-cold baller” as well.

There aren’t too many better ways to be described as an incoming freshman.

Trotter also brought up a great point as to why Medlock is going to be so valuable to the Spartans even as a true freshman and that’s the team’s high turnover rate from last year. The Spartans were 16th out of 18 Big Ten teams in turnover rate, and Medlock could play alongside Jeremy Fears and give Michigan State two primary ball-handlers who are smart with the rock in their hands and who don’t make a ton of mistakes. That should bring the turnover rate down.

Hearing several experts rave about the true freshman point guard is nice, especially when the Spartans are already being led by an All-American who’s been ranked the best player in the nation.

Michigan State’s backcourt may lack a little size, but it makes up for that in style of play, effectiveness, and will to win. The Spartans have the perfect 1-2 punch at the point.

Carlos Medlock Jr. is going to play a huge role for MSU this year

When the 2025-26 season ended and everyone was looking ahead to the massive 2026-27 campaign, the early thoughts on freshman playing time were that Jasiah Jervis would get the most with Ethan Taylor right behind as Medlock fights for minutes behind Fears and Divine Ugochukwu.

Well, Ugochukwu transferred to LSU to play for Will Wade (gross) and that means that he’s going to be the primary backup to the best player in college basketball. He’ll have a huge role.

Some minutes projections have Medlock somewhere in that 10-15 range for his freshman year, but Izzo is going to trot out some lineups with both Fears and the first-year point guard. They’re going to have small-ball options that might seem like a wild idea defensively, but both Fears and Medlock are scrappy enough to hold their own and that’ll create mismatches on the other end. In that case, 15-20 minutes per game seems more likely.

It’s going to be difficult to stop a lineup with two legitimate PG1s, especially when both can score from essentially anywhere on the floor (assuming Fears improves that 3-point jumper).

Izzo is going to have a tough time keeping this “certified gangster” off the floor in 2026-27.

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