Xavier Booker will get his first career start vs. Ohio State

It's about time. Xavier Booker is finally getting some extra run with Michigan State basketball.

After being the topic of discussion for the past month, Booker is about to see his minutes increase in the coming weeks, at least that's what Tom Izzo said last week.

We all thought that would happen Tuesday against Iowa, but he barely saw the floor and finish with a couple of rebounds and a nice and-one, but was quickly shown the bench after five minutes.

On Sunday, however, he is about to get his first career start with the Spartans.

This is something I never thought I'd be reading this season, but according to Kyle Austin of MLive, Izzo said on his pregame radio show that Booker will be starting in place of Mady Sissoko. This is a little shocking because Izzo has defended Sissoko despite his recent poor play and said that he would remain the team's starting center. He is starting to realize that just can't happen if this team is going to make any noise in March.

Is Booker ready to be the starting center after playing in just 19 games this year, averaging 8.0 minutes per game in those contests? We'll soon find out, but this is a good step in the right direction.

Earlier this week, Booker spoke to the media and said that he's aligned with Izzo on his playing time and development and the two talk every day about what he can do. It's clear that Booker has taken the right steps to become a starting center for Izzo. Hopefully this turns into a full-time thing and we see Booker take off over the next month.