Michigan State basketball saw their 2024-25 season come to an end on Sunday, falling in the Elite 8 to Auburn. While fans would like to sulk in the loss, and digest the ending of the season, the way college athletics does not allow that to happen.
With the season over, it is immediately time to turn to offseason roster decisions, and with the transfer portal already open, Michigan State will have to get several things in order to be able to tinker with the roster and team heading into next season.
Tom Izzo, who is not immune from using the portal, will want to keep as much of this group together as he can, with his preference being in house development, but if things fall a different way, the MSU head man will go out and retool the roster properly.
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As of now, there are about five or six different things that can be specifically pointed out and focused on as exit interviews start to commence:
Jase Richardson (NBA Draft)
First things first, Richardson’s decision to leave or stay could play a major role in determining whether or not Izzo grabs a 1 or 2 guard in the portal, or not. The problem with this, is the fact that an NBA Draft decision for Richardson could be a while away, with the enroll deadline being April 26.
No one will want Richardson to leave, but with how high he is thought of in NBA Draft circles, it may be inevitable that the MSU star makes the leap to the next level.
Anybody else (NBA Draft)
While I do not believe there is anybody else with eligibility remaining that will be a focus in the NBA Draft, I could see a couple of guys test the NBA Draft waters, for the experience.
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Tre Holloman, Coen Carr and Jaxon Kohler all stand out as guys who could dip their toes into the testing the draft process, and once someone tests the waters, you never know if they get overwhelmingly good feedback and decide to move on to professional basketball.
Xavier Booker (transfer)
It is not a crazy topic to discuss, and may even be the elephant in the room, but Booker is going to be faced with a decision this offseason. Following the conclusion of 2023-24, there were a lot of rumors about a Booker transfer, but he decided to stick it out in East Lansing for another year.
Unfortunately, it just never clicked this year, and after starting the year as a starter, he ended the year as a DNP in the final three games and only averaged 12.8 minutes per game over the whole season.
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Izzo will not ask Booker to leave, and will leave the door open for him to stay and continue his development, but no one would fault the Spartan big man if he decided on a change of scenery this offseason.
Gehrig Normand (transfer)
After redshirting last season, Normand never saw himself crack the rotation in 2024-25, and was even passed up by true freshman Kur Teng. Normand only played in 13 games this past season, mostly in mop up duty.
It is worth noting that Normand has dealt with injury problems, and at the end of the day, he is a great teammate and seemingly loves Michigan State, but a change of scenery might be necessary for him to get meaningful minutes during his eligibility window of college basketball.
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This is not some sort of prediction, but more so a player that making a move would make sense.
Anybody else (transfer)
At the end of the day, we are in the NIL era of college athletics, and you honestly never know when a player will make a move to go into the transfer portal to make more money.
Michigan State has an unbelievably good culture, and it will make a ton of people want to stick around and be a part of the program Izzo has built, but ultimately, nothing is ever certain in the world of college athletics that we are living in.
Doug Wojcik (Navy job)
While not a roster concern, Michigan State very well might have an opening on their bench this offseason. Wojcik is almost certainly the No. 1 candidate for the Navy vacancy, his alma mater, and it is one of the few jobs in America that he would really want to leave MSU for.
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If Wojcik decides to move on, Izzo will then have to retool his bench for the second straight offseason, putting a wrinkle in recruiting plans and other duties assistants do in the early offseason.
This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Michigan State basketball waiting on six key decisions to be made
