We are officially three days away from the deadline for one of the biggest decisions in recent Michigan State basketball history as Jeremy Fears Jr. decides if he’s going to come back for his junior year with the Spartans or enter the draft about 1-2 years earlier than anyone expected.
The decision was supposed to be a no-brainer when he entered the process but with the NBA Combine performance that he had, he’s starting to believe that he could be a first-rounder.
Fears could very well stay in the draft and leave the Spartans with one point guard entering the 2026-27 season in the form of true freshman Carlos Medlock Jr. It would be a huge adjustment from the previous expectations for that team, but Tom Izzo has to be prepared for anything.
There aren’t many portal prospects left to replace him with if he did leave, but there’s one backup plan that could play a similar role to the one that Divine Ugochukwu did this past season.
That backup plan happens to be the top shooting guard left in the transfer portal and he happened to be in contact with Michigan State last offseason when he was previously in the portal.
Vyctorius Miller played for LSU as a freshman and then hit the portal last offseason, hearing from Michigan State and Izzo before ultimately committing to Oklahoma State. He’s now back in the portal after averaging 10.8 points and shooting 38 percent from deep. He’s listed as a shooting guard but he can handle the ball and it would be much better counting on Miller as a backup ball-handler than a true freshman who’s primary position is shooting guard (Jasiah Jervis).
Again, this is a backup plan if Fears were to stay in the draft, so hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but honestly Miller wouldn’t be the worst option even if the All-American point guard returned. Michigan State is down a guard (Ugochukwu) and there’s a roster spot open.
Michigan State is running out of backup plans
Unfortunately Izzo didn’t expect to have to plan for this scenario, but if Fears does leave, his options are limited. He could dig into the portal for a player like Miller who I actually believe would be a great addition, but he’s also not huge on adding guys who’ve transferred every offseason of their collegiate careers.
The transfer portal doesn’t have any point guards remaining who are worth spending a roster spot on, but Miller would probably be the best backup option.
Having a shooting guard be the backup point guard is not an ideal scenario, but there aren’t going to be many “ideal” scenarios left if Fears enters the draft.
Again, I’d take Miller even if Fears did return because he can shoot and he could replace Ugochukwu but I’m going to assume that Izzo already combed the portal for backup options. The fact that he reached out to Miller last offseason makes this an interesting option.
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