Following an impressive win over Kentucky on Tuesday, a graphic was circulating which insinuated that the Wildcats’ roster was far more expensive than Michigan State’s under Tom Izzo.
The rumor was that Kentucky’s roster was worth $22 million while Michigan State’s was worth just around $3.5 million. That massive discrepancy has been circulating around social media for the past couple of days, and Izzo caught wind of it before his weekly radio show and made sure to address it.
Izzo talked about that wild rumor on Thursday, and basically shot it down, saying that he would never land another recruit if that number was true.
Circling back to this due to speculation the “$3.5 million” value of MSU is incorrect
— Michigan State Content (@msucontent) November 21, 2025
Reported back in July in an interview with Izzo by CBS’ Matt Norlander:
“Michigan State is at $3.5 million for the upcoming season, but that number will increase in the next year with the… https://t.co/N8QneKk5IW pic.twitter.com/ItNEiKrta0
And if you look at his 2026 recruiting class, it makes sense. There’s just no way the No. 1 recruiting class in the country would be OK with making peanuts compared to the rest of the blue-bloods. There’s just no way that Izzo would have landed Carlos Medlock Jr. over Michigan and others, or Jasiah Jervis over Tennessee and NC State, or Ethan Taylor over Kansas.
It just wouldn’t happen.
So it appears that everyone is undervaluing Michigan State’s roster.
No, it’s not worth $22 million like Kentucky’s roster, as Izzo openly admitted, but it’s also not as low as previously reported, and it’s even going up with the revenue sharing. People act like he has a roster of nobodies, but people seem to forget that Izzo is one of the best recruiters in the country and he has some serious backing from donors, so it’s not like he’s not setting these players up financially.
If you look at Michigan State’s roster, Jeremy Fears Jr., Jaxon Kohler, Coen Carr, Kur Teng, Cam Ward, and Jordan Scott were all four-star top-100 prospects. Plus, Trey Fort and Kaleb Glenn were four-star transfers. This roster has plenty of pieces, so it’s wild to act like it didn’t belong on the same court as Kentucky — Michigan State has the talent.
With a class of Taylor, Jervis, Medlock, and Julius Avent coming in next season, the roster is only going to be worth more, especially if Izzo wants to retain Carr and Fears who will probably be pursued heavily by some big-spenders in the offseason.
Make no mistake, Michigan State is competing both on the floor and financially.