The intrigue surrounding 2024-25 Michigan State basketball is rising

The expectations for 2024-25 Michigan State basketball are seemingly low.

Why? Gone are Malik Hall and Tyson Walker and both Mady Sissoko and AJ Hoggard have transferred to other programs. The entire roster is going to look different, for the most part, and the Spartans will be relying on younger guys to step up and carry the load. Oh, and the center position is still a massive question mark.

But Moneyball has changed that outlook every-so-slightly.

No, I’m not saying we should put any stock into Moneyball stats, but rather how players look compared to this past season. Jaxon Kohler appears to be in the best shape of his life, Jeremy Fears Jr. is still getting healthy but he’s looking close to 100 percent, Xavier Booker is working out with Jaren Jackson Jr., Szymon Zapala runs the floor well, Frankie Fidler is a scoring machine, Kur Teng is going to be a problem, Gehrig Normand is a knockdown shooter, Jase Richardson is surprising people, and Coen Carr has added some range to his shooting.

This team is just adding some key attributes this offseason that makes it intriguing heading into the 2024-25 campaign.

We all know what happened when expectations were sky-high before the 2023-24 season. It always feels like when Tom Izzo’s teams are expected to win it all or at least come close, they fall short. Last season was a prime example.

And I think that’s why the intrigue for 2024-25 should be rising. The team isn’t expected to do much and some experts even had the Spartans projected to finish in the 10-12 range in the conference next season, but usually when that’s the case, Izzo has his best coaching seasons. That’s exactly what I’m expecting here.

I’m intrigued by all of the offseason developments and the fact that the newcomers all look ready to compete right away. I went from “maybe they’ll be OK” to “I think this team could have juice” in the span of a few weeks.

Let’s hope it plays out that way in 2024-25.