Michigan State Basketball: I don't love Tom Izzo's transfer portal strategy
Another offseason means another summer of waiting around to see what Michigan State basketball does in the transfer portal.
The portal offers a lot of excitement for many fans across the country, but not necessarrily for MSU basketball fans. Tom Izzo has always been very blunt about his feelings towards the portal and how he thinks it's bad for the game. He also has chosen to not use the portal at all the past few years, a decision that has really cost the Spartans.
However, this offseason Izzo has begun to use the transfer portal. Let me first say that I am really excited that he is using it, another offseason of not using the portal would've been extremely detrimental to the program. But at the same time, Izzo's strategy and the way he uses the portal doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Izzo needs to act with more urgency
The frustrating part of how Izzo uses the portal is how methodical he is in his approach. He seems to take awhile to contact transfers he is interested in and he doesn't bring them on visits right away. Izzo doesn't seem interested in earning a commitment as fast as possible, which is something most other teams are trying to do.
Transfers' recruitments move extremely fast. Izzo's methodical approach works well in high school when recruitments last for years, but when you get to transfers whose recruitments can sometimes last less than a week, he needs to make his decisions and act on them a lot sooner. This failure to act quickly is putting MSU behind the curve and playing catch up with other teams across the country.
Teams like Indiana and Illinois already have multiple transfers committed to their programs while Michigan State has only had one visitor on campus so far.
Izzo needs to cast a wider net
I also feel that Izzo doesn't cast a wide enough net in the portal as well.
No team is ever going to get every recruit or transfer they go after. So team's have to plan for that and have many options ready to go if their primary target decides to go elsewhere. This is something I don't think Izzo does very well. He seems to be waiting to see if his top target will commit to MSU, and if they don't then he'll find someone new to go after.
Just think of how many other transfers are out there that Izzo could have contacted and maybe got in the running for while he was waiting around on one or two guys.
Time will tell if Izzo's strategy works or not. We'll find out potentially this week with one of his targets as Frankie Fidler is announcing his final decision. But if Fidler commits elsewhere, that means Michigan State is 0-for-2 as J'Vonne Hadley is no longer interested in Michigan State. Izzo then will need to pivot to someone new, a process that will take some time. So I just wish Izzo already had more guys lined up in the event Fidler doesnt commit to the green and white.