October 17, 2022: Our final Big Ten Preview installment is the most important - the Michigan State Spartans. We finished our annual preseason deep dive on each player, things to watch, and predictions for the year.

Exiting this year are Gabe Brown, Marcus Bingham, Max Christie, and Julius Marble. New players are freshmen Jaxon Kohler, Tre Holloman, Carson Cooper and grad transfer Jason Whitens (who was on the team last year but tore his ACL in the exhibition opener against Ferris State.)

Last year, the Spartans were fantastic shooting the 3 but uncharacteristically struggled to rebound the basketball and defend in the post. That contributed to their #42 overall KenPom ranking as they had one of the worst defensive rankings for an MSU team since 2006. Unfortunately, a lot of areas in which MSU needed improved play just didn't materialize last year. The team just didn't seem to gel and figure out their roles until perhaps the last two weeks of the year - just in time for the Big Ten tournament and NCAA tourney.

The most obvious question this year is what will happen at the 5 spot with the departures of Bingham and Marble. The spartans will have to rely on foul-prone Mady Sissoko and a pair of true freshmen in Kohler and Cooper to try and get by. If that spot struggles, it might be a very long year our guys as the Big Ten still have a lot of teams with good centers. The other big question is can players like Akins and Brooks elevate their game and become big time contributors.

Rod and Eric take the deep dive to prepare yourself for the season to come.

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