Michigan State Basketball: Tom Izzo is gearing up for another title run

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo has landed two five-star recruits for the Spartans in the last week.

Longtime Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo has been hot on the recruiting trail over the past week. In that span, he’s managed to land two five-star recruits for the Spartans.

With these two new recruits, he looks ready to compete and be geared up for another title run with the Spartans. Each commitment has been a significant blow to other powerhouse programs around the country.

First, the Naismith Hall-of-Fame coach received a verbal commitment from reigning Gatorade National Player of the Year Emoni Bates last week. Then, on Tuesday, Izzo struck gold again when the Michigan State basketball landed shooting guard Max Christie from Rolling Meadows (Illinois) High School.

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At 65-years-old, is Izzo finally starting to take the gloves off in recruiting battles against other blue blood programs?

Bates’ and Christie’s commitments provide an influx of talent for a traditional powerhouse looking to rebound from a Final Four exit back during the 2018-19 season.

In recent memory, recruiting in college basketball has proven to be very trendy. With these top commitments, it wouldn’t be surprising to see other highly-ranked amateurs follow suit and pack their bags for East Lansing.

For the moment, each recruit is set to arrive on campus in consecutive calendar years. Although, Bates may reclassify and join Christie to form the best duo Michigan State has seen during Izzo’s tenure.

Bates (’22) is widely regarded as the top high school player in the country, regardless of class. Only a sophomore, his game closely resembles Kevin Durant’s and has been mentioned as the best amateur prospect to take the court since LeBron James at the turn of this millennium.

Standing six-foot-six, Christie (’21) is the #1 rated shooting guard in his class and ranks in the top-15 as a prospect. He announced via ESPN, by unzipping his Team USA windbreaker to reveal that he’d chosen the Spartans over programs like Duke, Villanova, Virginia, Purdue, and Ohio State.

Will Christie become the Robin to Bate’s Batman for the Michigan State Spartans?

Bates is reportedly “bored” with his current competition to the point his father is starting his own prep academy, so that Emoni can increase his level of competition by facing other top prep programs while he readies himself for a future as the #1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

Despite being highly-touted, Christie isn’t a likely one-and-done player at the moment. He needs to add weight to his slender frame and improve his strength for the daily rigors of “the league.”

Either way, you shake things, it’s entirely possible that both will team up together on-court shortly and that Coach Izzo will reap the benefits.

Izzo’s legacy is firmly cemented on campus, and throughout the world of basketball. However, it still feels like one NCAA Championship (2000) and eight trips to the Final Four isn’t enough for him to be mentioned in the same breath as John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, and Bob Knight.

As of now, the legendary coach is lining himself up as the favorite to emerge from the annual blue blood slugfest known as college basketball recruiting. He’s delivering blows to Duke and the rest of the big boys, left and right.

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Is it possible the Spartans land another top commit in the coming weeks en route to a position as “favorite” when March Madness finally returns?

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