Much like watching a GriZ show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, we were all just waiting for the drop.
Not the musical drop that comes with a melodic saxophone, captivating your eardrums and shaking your body to its core. Instead, college basketball fans and bettors alike were anxiously waiting for the first release of the Wooden Award odds.
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Finally, on Sunday afternoon, the odds were released, and there was a familiar name sitting at the very top.
A name synonymous with excitement in East Lansing, but also a name synonymous with “rough” or “dirty” if you ask someone outside the Michigan State corridor.
The man I’m talking about is Jeremy Fears Jr.
Fears enters the season with the best odds in the nation to win the Wooden Award, opening at +850, which gives him an implied 10.5% chance to take home college basketball’s most prestigious individual honor.
The complete list looks like this:
To Spartan fans, there’s no surprise seeing Fears’ name atop the list. He was one of the best players in the nation last season and put a pretty underwhelming Michigan State squad on his back, personally carrying the Spartans as far as he could—which ended with a Sweet 16 appearance.
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Along the way, Fears shattered Michigan State’s single-season assists record, finishing with 328 assists. That broke Cassius Winston‘s previous program record of 291, which had stood since the 2018-19 season.
Fears and Purdue‘s Braden Smith found themselves in a Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa type of race for the Big Ten’s all-time single-season assists record. In the end, Fears finished just 17 assists shy of Smith, who set the conference record during his final season at Purdue.
Now, Fears will have another opportunity to chase that mark and further cement his legacy in Big Ten history.
Of course, Fears isn’t just the best passer in the conference. His elite court vision is second to none, but his ability to score and consistently get to the free-throw line has become another major strength of his game. He led Michigan State in scoring last season at 15.2 points per game.
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The biggest area still left to improve is his outside shooting.
Fortunately for Michigan State, the Spartans addressed that need by bringing in natural shooters like Jasiah Jervis and Carlos Medlock, while also adding two players standing over seven feet tall to create even more opportunities around the rim.
For Fears personally, though, the next step is becoming a more consistent three-point shooter. His ultimate goal is hearing his name called early in the NBA Draft, and knocking down perimeter shots at a higher rate will go a long way toward becoming a lottery pick while strengthening his case for the Wooden Award.
Some Spartan fans may have a few trepidations about the lofty expectations surrounding Fears. After all, it’s been nearly a decade since Michigan State truly felt like a national contender with a player capable of winning college basketball’s top individual award.
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But those nerves should quickly turn into excitement.
With Jeremy Fears Jr. leading the way and Tom Izzo once again patrolling the sidelines, Michigan State enters the season with legitimate national championship expectations. For the first time since 2020, East Lansing has every reason to believe the Spartans can compete with anyone in the country, and now they have the preseason Wooden Award favorite to prove it.
