Couch: Analyzing Michigan State basketball’s 2024-25 roster, player by player

Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. signals to teammates during the second half in the game against Ferris State on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in East Lansing.

Michigan State opens its men’s basketball season Monday night at home against Monmouth. Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch breaks down the Spartans’ roster.

PROJECTED OPENING NIGHT STARTERS

PG Jeremy Fears, 6-2, redshirt freshman

If Fears had been healthy and available late last season, I think he might have been handed the keys to the offense before now. MSU is counting on him to run show, coming off an abbreviated freshman season that ended before January, when he was shot in the leg while back in his hometown for Christmas. He’s 100% healed, by every account. That doesn’t mean he’s 100% back yet to being the athlete he was. But you can see his quickness, his determination on defense, his knack for pushing ball in transition and for being a pass-first creator. MSU needs all of that from him and for him to do it at an increasingly high level. And, ideally, to also be a shot-maker, inside and out, which will make him more difficult to guard on and off the ball.

Michigan State’s Jaden Akins, left, moves the ball as Ferris State’s Ethan Erickson defends during the first half on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in East Lansing.

SG Jaden Akins, 6-4, senior

This team is going to lean on Akins for a lot this season. The question is how much of that is being a go-to scorer. He hasn’t shot well (or all that much) in preseason action, but he’s a proven 40% 3-point shooter who’s been waiting for this expanded role in the offense. And we’ve already seen signs of it — in how he attacked in MSU’s most difficult game in Spain in August and how much he’s had the ball in his hands to create for teammates. To really understand Akins’ role offensively, we’ll have to see this team in stressful situations when it needs a bucket or an offensive spark. Defensively, he’s going to be essential. And my sense is he really…

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Author : Lansing State Journal

Publish date : 2024-11-03 20:03:00

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