College football season is right around the corner, but college hoops season is on the minds of a lot of Michigan State fans who are already looking ahead to what should be a special 2026-27 campaign.
Tom Izzo has assembled another elite roster and his Jeremy Fears Jr.-led team has given him his best chance to win a second national title in a decade. Michigan State will start the season in the top five with a loaded roster, but Fears is the best player on this elite team.
For that reason, he’s my favorite to take home the Wooden Award following the season. No Spartan has ever won the Wooden Award, but it’s Fears’ to lose in 2026-27.
While Vegas agrees with my No. 1 Wooden Award candidate, here’s who my top five candidates are:
- Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State
- John Blackwell, Duke
- Thomas Haugh, Florida
- Tyran Stokes, Kansas
- David Mirkovic, Illinois
As you can tell, I’m pretty high on the Big Ten for the upcoming season and I could even see guys like Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney in the race at some point — more so the latter than the former. I also think John Blackwell gets a massive boost after leaving Wisconsin for Duke and that’s partially a Blue Devil bump but also he never got the national respect he deserved while he was with the Badgers.
In my opinion, however, the award is Fears’ to lose. He’s been ranked the top returning player in college basketball by several publications and Vegas has been high on his chances to win the national player of the year awards since he announced his return in May.
Fears is the nation’s top point guard and when he adds a consistent 3-point jumper, he’s going to be college basketball’s best player. You can’t tell me that the Wooden Award favorite isn’t a first-round pick in next year’s NBA draft.
Enjoy Fears while he‘s still in East Lansing, Spartan fans.
Jeremy Fears Jr. is really just a consistent 3-point shot away
There aren’t many bad things that you can say about Fears. I guess you could say that he’s not as big as some NBA teams may like their point guards to be, but he makes up for his lack of size with a will to win and a leadership quality that can’t be taught.
Fears has everything an NBA team would want from its franchise point guard:
- A strong frame
- A consistent mid-range jumper
- Confidence
- A winning attitude and track record
- Lockdown defense
- The ability to get under opponents’ skin
- Leadership skills
- Athleticism
- Elite passing skills
- The ability to get to the rim and draw fouls
He checks off every box except one: a consistent 3-point shot.
Fears knows that he’s going to have to figure that out this season if he plans on making it to the NBA as a first-round pick in 2027. He has pretty much everything but height and a 3-point shot which makes him a near-perfect NBA prospect.
The junior point guard is going to have to prove himself once again (he’s used to it) in 2026-27, but if he can shoot somewhere in the ballpark of 35 percent from deep, he’s going to have NBA teams blowing up his phone.
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