Michigan State 2026-27 roster is all but sewn up thanks to Tom Izzo landing Anton Bonke from the transfer portal last week to address the center situation.
Per essentially every major outlet, Michigan State is one of the top-five teams in the country entering the 2026-27 season. Well, every major outlet except for ESPN which has the Spartans the lowest out of any that I’ve seen. And the worldwide leader in sports also botched the entire MSU projection.
On Monday, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello shared his updated way-too-early Top 25 for the 2026-27 season and he projected the starting five for every ranked team, too.
Unfortunately, he botched the heck out of Michigan State’s projected lineup.
According to Borzello, the starting five for Michigan State is expected to be Jeremy Fears Jr., Kur Teng, Jordan Scott, Coen Carr, and Bonke — although it was Cam Ward projected at center earlier in the day. He must have received some backlash from Spartan fans who noticed the obvious mistake. He also had Scott starting at the two and Teng at the three before this update.
The new update from Borzello also dropped Michigan State three spots from the previous way-too-early edition where the Spartans were listed as the nation’s No. 6 team.
I’m not so sure that a 27-8 team that made it to the Sweet 16 which lost no one other than Carson Cooper, Divine Ugochukwu, and Jaxon Kohler and brings in a top-five recruiting class and two four-star transfers (Kaleb Glenn back from injury and Anton Bonke) can drop three spots, making room for Alabama, Texas, and Arkansas.
I just don’t understand how that can work after Izzo addressed the center situation.
I’m going to have a tough time taking the projection seriously considering Borzello believes that Teng will be the starter over Scott and Jasiah Jervis at the two, and somehow Cam Ward isn’t starting at the four and Carr is. Again, the entire projection was botched.
What Michigan State’s 2026-27 lineup will actually look like
I’m not Izzo so I can’t say for sure who he plans on starting next season, but I can tell you that Ward won’t be starting at center, Scott likely won’t be starting at the three, and Carr won’t be starting at the four. While I do think that lineup is a possibility in a small-ball scenario, I don’t think it’s going to be utilized often — definitely not a starting five.
Here’s what I see the starting five looking like for a top-five Michigan State team:
PG: Jeremy Fears Jr.
SG: Jordan Scott
SF: Coen Carr
PF: Cam Ward
C: Anton Bonke
The only way I think this changes is if Carson Cooper returns and he starts at center over Bonke. In that case, I could see Jesse McCulloch sliding over to backup power forward behind Ward.
I respect the update by Borzello, moving Teng from the small forward spot and Ward from center, but I still think a little more research needs to be put into a team that’s projected to begin the season in the top 10, at the very least.
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