CBB expert shares his thoughts on Michigan State basketball's win in Madrid
Michigan State basketball is back and what an amazing feeling that is considering it's only mid-August.
The team got off to a fast start this preseason in Spain as they took on the Madrid All-Stars in their first of three games during their overseas trip. The game wasn't pretty, but Michigan State was able to hold on and win a hard-fought battle 94-87.
Much of Spartan nation tuned into this game as the team's official Instagram page had a live stream going, but one college basketball expert was also watching closely as well.
Michigan State over Madrid All-Stars 94-87.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 15, 2024
3 takeaways:
1. Jeremy Fears is special. Will have a "Cassius Winston caliber" impact as the Spartans' starting PG.
2. Small ball PF is still Coen Carr's best position.
3. Like Fears and Tre Holloman together in the MSU backcourt. https://t.co/1Nj6z8ieiZ
Jon Rothstein is a college basketball insider and expert for CBS Sports. Nobody watches more college basketball than Rothstein, so it's no surprise that he was tuning into this game as well.
It's always interesting when an outside, unbiased party shares their opinion on Michigan State because you know they're going to give it to you straight. That's exactly what Rothstein did, as he took the time to share three of his own takeaways after the Spartans' win over Madrid.
The first thing he mentioned was Jeremy Fears Jr. and how special he could be for Michigan State. Rothstein compared him to legend Cassius Winston, which in all honesty I 100 percent agree with, and see the similarities between the two.
Rothstein also noticed that Coen Carr shines as a small ball power forward. This scares me a little bit because Carr hasn't developed a solid outside jump shot yet, but Carr's athleticism will always be rewarded with substantial playing time. So putting him out there with a guy like Kohler at center could be a matchup nightmare for some teams.
The last thing Rothstein took away from this game is how elite of a duo Fears and Tre Holloman are. Many of us think Fears and Holloman are battling each other out for the starting point guard spot, but what we aren't thinking enough about is playing them both together. Holloman is more than capable of playing off the ball on the wing as well, so pairing these two together will someone like Frankie Fidler would be a lot of fun to watch this season.