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Excitement for 2024-25 Michigan State basketball team is on the rise

By Connor Muldowney

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo looks back at the bench during the second half of quarterfinal of Big Ten tournament against Purdue at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. on Friday, March 15, 2024.
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo looks back at the bench during the second half of quarterfinal of Big Ten tournament against Purdue at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. on Friday, March 15, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Tom Izzo has assembled his 2024-25 Michigan State basketball team, piece by piece, over the past couple of months. Following the disappointing loss to North Carolina in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Izzo vowed to do whatever it takes to get the program back on track.

Well, following the losses of AJ Hoggard, Mady Sissoko, Malik Hall, Tyson Walker, and Mark Montgomery, he had his work cut out for him.

Izzo hit the transfer portal (yes, finally) and landed Frankie Fidler to fill the role of scoring wing that the team desperately needed and he also landed 7-footer Szymon Zapala from Longwood. The latter wasn't the sexiest addition possible, but Zapala could provide some much-needed size and scoring touch in the post alongside Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper.

Outside of those two transfer additions, Izzo made a splash hire with Saddi Washington. He replaces Montgomery on the staff after spending time at Michigan under Juwan Howard and the former 247Sports Recruiter of the Year should fit in nicely with the Spartans. He grew up around the program for which his dad played and he's familiar with the Big Ten already.

Oh, and Washington isn't just a great recruiter, he's also a wing/big man developer. That's something Michigan State has been sorely missing.

With Washington now on the staff, I'd expect to see big jumps from Kohler, Cooper, and Zapala as well as Coen Carr and Xavier Booker. We should also see Jaden Akins have his best season as a Spartan and Fidler benefitting from that as well as Tre Holloman and Jeremy Fears Jr. dominating at the point.

The expectations with these three new additions, along with the solid incoming 2024 recruiting class, should be on the rise. Michigan State was tabbed as a 'middle of the pack' Big Ten team for the upcoming season, but I'd be shocked if the Spartans didn't compete for a conference title. These underrated MSU teams are exactly the ones that we always seem to remember and celebrate.

And the 2024-25 team should be no different.

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