3 key position battles to watch during Michigan State basketball's trip to Spain
This isn't something you hear very often but who's ready to watch Michigan State basketball play in August? The team has officially landed in Spain for its offseason adventure that will see it play three games over the next week in Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia.
These games are scheduled for Aug. 15, Aug. 17, and Aug. 20 and will be a very good test for the entire team. MSU will be going up against professional teams in all three games, so not only will they be tough to win, but we will also learn a lot about the team with all the new pieces taking over the team.
There are a lot of question marks surrounding Tom Izzo's squad after all of the offseason departures, but there are three key position battles that I will be paying close attention to during these three games.
1. Jeremy Fears vs. Tre Holloman
The battle to become Michigan State's starting point guard this season is still up for grabs and is between Jeremy Fears Jr. and Tre Holloman. If you had asked me a few months ago who would be the starter I would have said Holloman very confidently. But that was before Fears dominated in a few games at Moneyball and before he himself said he's 100 percent healthy.
So now that menas either of these two players can win the starting spot.
Izzo may have an idea in his head of who the frontrunner is, but I highly doubt even he has made up his mind quite yet. These two will likely battle it until the season begins in practice, but these three games in Spain will be very telling.
It doesn't matter much who the starter is during these games, but how they both play will be very telling. Who is the better playmaker? Who has better control of the offense? Does one player have more of an upside scoring the ball than the other? How does Fears look healthwise in a more formal game setting?
All of these questions will be answered during these next three games and we likely will see one of the guys take control of this position battle over the next week.