The transfer portal closed on Tuesday night which meant that Wednesday was always going to be an eventful day around college basketball. Such was the case in East Lansing with Michigan State.
Divine Ugochukwu shocked everyone and entered the transfer portal at the buzzer while Tom Izzo and the Spartans landed their center in Charlotte 7-footer Anton Bonke. This is the addition that we’ve all been waiting for, but it’s not quite the Aiden Sherrell or Moustapha Thiam-level transfer that fans were wishing on.
Still, Michigan State is going to have one of the best starting fives in college basketball next year.
The starting five actually looks like it could compete for Big Ten and national titles next season:
PG: Jeremy Fears Jr.
SG: Jordan Scott/Jasiah Jervis
SF: Coen Carr
PF: Cam Ward
C: Anton Bonke
There’s size, there’s shooting, and there’s defense. This is a perfect Tom Izzo lineup and while it could obviously use a little more shooting, having Coen Carr shoot 30ish percent, Jordan Scott and Jasiah Jervis at 35-plus percent, Jeremy Fears Jr. at 30-35 percent, and Bonke at 35ish percent from three would be huge. Defenses would have a nightmare dealing with that.
Izzo watched as Michigan won a national title with elite size and decided to go that route with a 7-foot-2 center from Charlotte who can spread the floor and rim protect.
He may be trying to replicate what Michigan did with Aday Mara.
This starting five will very much be one of the 4-5 best in college basketball to start the 2026-27 season and this makes that Divine Ughochukwu departure hurt just a little less.
Anton Bonke gives Michigan State’s lineup just what it needed
Michigan State was missing a starting-caliber center who had the frame to hang with physical Big Ten bigs and the potential to grow as both a post scorer as well as a defender. Michigan State just got lucky that Bonke can actually shoot the ball, too, making 34.2% from three last season and 65.3% from the line.
The only concern for me is the fact that he just didn’t stand out at Providence, but that’s because I feel like he’s a late-bloomer. I’m not going to sit here and say that I expect Mara 2.0 from Bonke, but I do believe that his growth at Charlotte was notable and more of what we should expect.
Michigan State now has the perfect size in the lineup in an era when size matters.
The national title hopes have been a little grim over the past couple of weeks in the transfer portal, but one day after it closed, the Spartans restored that hope.
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