After making a run to the Elite Eight last season, many wondered what Michigan State's basketball team could do for an encore in 2025.
The Spartans returned a few emerging players, but needed to add complementary pieces to shore things up and fill out the bulk of their roster following the key departures of Jace Richardson, Jaden Akins, Frankie Fidler, Tre Holloman, and Szymon Zapala.
That's led to a 12-1 start and a team that is still among the contenders for the Big Ten and national championships as conference play begins. But how close can MSU get to achieving those goals? If you ask head coach Tom Izzo, the success of the current season hinges on the performances of two particular players.
"This team is going to go as far as Carson Cooper and Jeremy [Fears] doing their jobs [can take it]," Izzo told the media after Monday's 114-97 win over Cornell. "Their jobs are to guard somebody and push the ball in Jeremy's case and to defend and rebound the ball in Coop's case."
Pushing the pace, rebounding, and defense have been staples of Michigan State's play under Izzo. They were unique aspects of his early coaching years, and as teams throughout college basketball have caught on and tried to emulate the approach, the Spartans remain among the best in the business.
In terms of pace and running the floor as a leader, Fears has drawn comparisons to Spartan great Mateen Cleaves since he committed to the program in high school. After an unfortunate incident derailed his true freshman season, the redshirt sophomore has begun to live up to the hype.
"We've had meetings after meetings after meetings, him and I, this week, about pushing the ball more," Izzo said. "Finally, I took four games and showed him the film of those four games. They tell me young kids learn more from visuals than they do from explaining. I think he got it, and I think he did a good job."
His first full season saw him dish out over five assists per game and come without shouting distance of averaging double figures in points. It's no coincidence that his emergence helped lead the Spartans to their deepest March run since 2019, and this year, Fears is becoming even more dangerous.
Being third on the team in scoring is an accomplishment in itself, but even more impressive are his 9.3 assists per game, second in the nation. He has clearly demonstrated all the intangibles of a great MSU point guard. If he can continue to grow the way Izzo wants, the Spartans will be in great hands over the next couple of seasons.
Rebounding is more of a Carson Cooper thing. He was a much less heralded high school recruit, joining the MSU team as a raw 0-star project. Not much was expected of him, but he's steadily improved and has done the little gritty things well enough to firmly capture a starting role, adding even more credence to Izzo's developmental approach.
Since joining the program. Cooper has slowly developed into a difference maker, including a 16-point, 16-rebound performance against Duke. MSU lost that game, but no one expected Carson Cooper to have that kind of game against an elite opponent when he committed to Michigan State.
The intersection of both players' skill sets is their collective intensity and strong defense. Fears speeds up opposing guards to try to entice turnovers, while Cooper has excelled at shutting down the low post since he arrived in East Lansing.
"Carson Cooper and Jeremy Fears are very, very, very important in our defense, because Coop can guard, usually, smaller guys – he struggled with that tonight – and usually any ball-screen known to mankind.," Izzo added. "We haven't been as good at that. He has a value, I told him that after the game. He has a big value."
That value has never been more clear. Cooper and Fears exemplify are Michigan State basketball personified, albeit from different ends of the spectrum. It's no wonder the success of this year's team is in their hands.