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3 Michigan State basketball takeaways from final night of Moneyball

Which freshman won MVP?

By Trevor Michael

Michigan State freshman and Team Goodfellas' Kur Teng, moves the ball against Team Case Credit Union in the game on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, during the Moneyball Pro-Am at Holt High School.
Michigan State freshman and Team Goodfellas' Kur Teng, moves the ball against Team Case Credit Union in the game on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, during the Moneyball Pro-Am at Holt High School. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
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3. Jaxon Kohler may be the starting center

Jaxon Kohler once again had one of the more impressive Moneyball performances of the summer. He’s been the king of Moneyball for a few years now, and even though Teng won MVP it’s hard to ignore how well Kohler played.

Thursday night was another standard Moneyball performance from Kohler as he scored 37 points including two 3-pointers. I know at the end of the day it’s just Moneyball, but it is pretty wild that 37 points feels pretty normal from Kohler at this point.

Now he clearly will never score that many points in a regular season game this season, but this summer is making me believe that he’ll be the starting center. In my eyes it’s either him or Carson Cooper and I had previously given the edge to Cooper, but I’m starting to change my mind.

I think we’ve always known that Kohler is the better offensive player, but I think this summer he really showed just how better he is on that side of the floor compared to Cooper. The one question I do have for Kohler is his defense which Cooper is very good at. Can Kohler be good enough defensively for it to make sense to start him over Cooper?

Unfortunately, Moneyball doesn’t help us answer that question. So at this point maybe Tom Izzo will have to decide who starts based on the matchup. If the opponent has a strong post player, Cooper should play more, but if they don’t, then Kohler should play more so he can contribute more offensively.

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