This offseason, Michigan State basketball was affected by the transfer portal in a way that we haven’t really seen before. With multiple players coming and going, Tom Izzo and his staff have been forced to fully dive into the portal this offseason, where they may have been more selective and deliberate in the past.
On Wednesday, Tom Izzo met with the media to recap the season, and the conversation was very much focused on the state of the transfer portal, NIL, and the players that chose to leave MSU this spring.
You can see a summary of what he had to say below:
- Izzo pleads with the fans to stop harassing players on social media for their transfer decisions: ‘I’m asking you to ask our fans to quit bashing our players on social media. If they left to go to another school, if they left to go to the NBA, if they left to go to war.’
- Izzo is critical of NIL, not in terms of players making money, but because he felt it was set up poorly by the people in charge and has led to players seeking input from ‘middlemen’.
- Izzo explains why he’s still coaching: “I still have a passion. I still have energy. I still want to make a difference. I still want to help kids live their dream that I got to live mine. All the right reasons. … I’m still fist-fighting the fight.”
- In terms of Gehrig Normand’s decision to transfer, Izzo speculated that Normand was ‘a little homesick when he got here.’ Also noted that Normand was in line for minutes this year until he suffered a preseason injury.
- Izzo on Xavier Booker’s decision: “I failed. I love Book. The day he came in with his family was a difficult day for all of us. We made him stronger. As a student-athlete, he’s done an unbelievable job. I just couldn’t get enough out of him. Deep down, there is one hell of a basketball player in there. My job is to get that out of him. And I didn’t get that done.”
- Izzo on Tre Holloman: “I was surprised. It was a little bit of a surprise. But Tre wanted some things, too.” Noted that he felt Tre wanted a chance to start at point guard. He also said fans ripping into him on social media are ‘ridiculous.’
- Izzo said that if any of his staff tries to contact players during the season they will be gone.
- Interestingly, Izzo noted that he doesn’t think Jase Richardson has fully closed the door on returning to MSU next year.
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