Over the past few days, Michigan State fans have had to rip off the band-aid and begin looking ahead to next season after the Spartans lost a heartbreaker to UConn in the Sweet 16.
Tom Izzo wasn’t able to beat his friend Dan Hurley in the Sweet 16 to advance to his second straight Elite Eight for the first time in over a decade, and he immediately got to planning on how to get back to the Final Four. He wasted no time mapping out what next year could look like, and he seems more motivated than ever to chase that second national title.
With Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper gone, Izzo knows that adding a portal center is going to be the main offseason priority for him other than keeping his roster intact.
Izzo apparently believes that he won’t lose anyone this offseason, but he’s not going to guarantee it. So that’s one less thing to worry about. Now he needs to focus on adding a big man in the portal, and several ideal options have decided to transfer over the past couple of days.
Georgia’s Somto Cyril might fit the Spartan mold perfectly, however.
Somto Cyril looks like a perfect Michigan State fit
The Georgia center hit the portal on Tuesday after spending the past two seasons in Athens and he made the SEC All-Defensive team this season after averaging 2.2 blocks per game — he also grabbed 5.4 rebounds per game, so he’s no slouch there. If Izzo were to land Cyril, he’d have to get him to be a more aggressive rebounder like Kohler and Cooper.
Cyril might not be an offensive juggernaut, averaging 9.3 points per game this season, but he was almost automatic down low, making over 75 percent of his field goals. He can absolutely improve his offensive bag.
A 6-foot-11 center who hasn’t quite tapped into his rebounding prowess yet and who can score 10 points and block two shocks per game? That’s the exact center that Izzo would create in a lab.
The only issue is that Cyril wouldn’t be able to stretch the floor as a 3-point threat, but he’d be one of the best rim protectors in the Big Ten immediately and he could give Michigan State 10-15 points and 8-10 rebounds nightly.
The other issue? Cyril’s full first name is Somtochukwu which means that Divine Ugochukwu and him would have Will Tieman in a torture chamber of pronunciation next season.