There’s chatter in the streets these days about a potential fifth year for Michigan State big man Carson Cooper who is graduating this semester and the NCAA is pushing for a vote on that five-year eligibility window for as soon as May.
If current seniors get grandfathered in, that would mean that college basketball would be chaos for the next month as guys who are designating get to decide if they want to return for one more year.
Tre Holloman is already expecting that to happen as the former Spartan-turned-NC State guard entered the transfer portal once again this offseason with the hopes of a fifth year ruling.
Cooper’s return is still very much possible and with Divine Ugochukwu leaving, that means there’s a spot on the roster for him. If he does decide to come back, he can thank Divine for the opportunity, especially since Michigan State addressed the center position with Charlotte transfer Anton Bonke.
There are a lot of ‘ifs’ going into the next month of the offseason.
Projected Michigan State lineup with Carson Cooper back
With all of this talk of a Cooper fifth year, what would a lineup with him back and Bonke in town possibly look like? Here’s my best guess:
PG: Jeremy Fears Jr.
SG: Jordan Scott
SF: Coen Carr
PF: Cam Ward
C: Carson Cooper
We’ve definitely seen this lineup before. This is probably Michigan State’s starting five in the case that Cooper does return, but that’s under the assumption that both he and Bonke are OK with splitting minutes. Jesse McCulloch and Ethan Taylor have to play into the mix, too — I’d probably slide McCulloch over to backup power forward in this instance.
If Cooper is back, that would also give Izzo arguably his deepest team in decades. He would legitimately be 2-3 deep at every single position.
Talk about a good problem to have.
Also, for anyone who thinks a 7-foot-2 man is playing power forward for Tom Izzo, you should probably just forget that idea. I’d be shocked if Bonke and Cooper played much at the same time.
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