Michigan State basketball no longer involved in Trey Townsend's recruitment

Trey Townsend is one of the hottest names in the transfer portal, and rightfully so. He is fresh off helping lead Oakland to the biggest upset in this year's NCAA Tournament over 3-seed Kentucky. Sure this monumental upset is how he became a household name across the country, but his play all season long deserves even more praise.

Townsend is coming off a season where he averaged 17.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. Even in a small conference like the Horizon, this is still extremely impressive. He also showed up in the biggest moments all season long, not just in the Kentucky game.

In the Golden Grizzlies' loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to NC State, Townsend put up 30 points and 13 rebounds and played all 45 minutes. He also went off for 38 points and 11 rebounds in the Horizon League title game to get Oakland into the Big Dance.

All of these reasons made Michigan State basketball fans desperately want Tom Izzo and MSU to target Townsend as soon as he entered the portal. And that is exactly what MSU initially did. Michigan State was actually one of the first teams to reach out to Townsend once he hit the portal.

However, according to Tony Paul with the Detroit News, Michigan State is no longer active in Townsend's recruitment and will not be getting a visit.

There were rumors last week that Townsend could visit Michigan State sometime this week. That visit however was never officially scheduled, and this update from Paul confirms that MSU is no longer involved with Townsend.

What changed? The Spartans seemed interested and Townsend also was reciprocating that interest. So why is he no longer visiting East Lansing?

For starters, it might have to do with a potential commitment from Frankie Fidler. All signs point to him committing to Michigan State any day now, so this may be playing a role in Townsend or Michigan State not being interested anymore. It's also worth noting that the Spartans viewed Townsed as a four, but he wants to play the three which is where he projects if he makes it to the NBA. So this small disagreement could have impacted his recruitment as well.

My guess is that both of these reasons played a little role in this recruitment going sideways for Michigan State. However, I don't believe there is any reason to panic. The Spartans are likely going to get Fidler and there is still plenty of time for Izzo to get someone else in the portal.