Following the Michigan State basketball loss to Ohio State, Tom Izzo and Jake Diebler opened up about Xavier Booker.
Around 20 minutes before tip for Sunday’s Michigan State basketball loss to Ohio State, Tom Izzo announced that Xavier Booker would be starting. This came after months of speculation, dating back to the early season. Booker, despite being rated No. 11 in the 2023 class rankings by 247Sports, has played sparingly this season. He had played in 19 of the Spartans’ 27 contests, totaling only 149 minutes played during his freshman campaign. The announcement brought a lot of reactions, and the press room was not exempt.
I was able to cover this game and the press conferences, and it is safe to say Booker was a hot topic post-game. Here is what was said about Booker by Ohio State interim head coach Jake Diebler and MSU head coach Tom Izzo.
I will also be providing a breakdown and my takeaways on these quotes. I have had a few days to marinate on this last loss and my observations from the game, and there is a lot more I have to say.
Ohio State basketball coach Jake Diebler’s thoughts on Xavier Booker’s impact
“We were able to get some deeper catches… we were able to catch the ball a little deeper which helped play to their (OSU’s bigs’) strengths.”
Chris Solari asked Jake Diebler about the impact of when Michigan State pulled Xavier Booker from the game with just over 15 minutes remaining. Diebler gave a ton of credit to his players, saying that they played phenomenally, but his quote highlighted Booker’s impact. Ohio State believed that the post was their strength in this game, and their numbers certainly agree. There was no offensive threat from the outside for OSU. The Buckeyes finished 3-for-17 from beyond the arc on Sunday night and were 2-for-16 until Dale Bonner’s prayer shot was answered.
In the paint, however, Ohio State added 34 points, including some of their eight layups and three dunks. Considering Booker had three blocks, including two in his extended action in his first minutes of the first half, there are a lot of questions. This answer surprised me, as Booker’s impact was felt more on the offensive front from my observations. Granted, a player does not finish plus-11 without the ability to play on both sides of the ball.
Michigan State basketball head coach Tom Izzo’s quotes on Booker
Brace yourself, prepare for a lot of Booker quotes from the Michigan State basketball coach. It is safe to say Booker was a hot topic following his first start.
“The guards were running off ball screens and we did not think he was (the best) available to do some of the things are veterans and just a coaching decision we made.”
This was his answer when prompted on the decision to sit Booker for the final 15 minutes of the game. A worry on ball screen defense led to the freshman leaving the game at the media timeout, never to return. Hindsight is 20-20, but the coaching decision clears up a few things. Booker impressed on the court, and none of his bench time in the final 15 minutes was a result of his action or inaction on the hardwood.
“I love what Booker did, he did a lot of good things. But, there were some things that you didn’t see that he didn’t do on coverages. So, that is the only thing that changed. He did have some blocks, he did have some things, so give him credit for that… There was nothing bad, everything I thought about Booker was good.”
Here is the start of a proper breakdown of Booker’s game from Izzo’s perspective. Izzo made sure to start complimentary of the freshman’s play but then went into more of his decision to sit Booker. He had his defensive lapses, which is not too surprising for a freshman in a Power Six conference. No matter how highly-rated a prospect is, there will still be plenty to learn.
From my perspective, Booker did show a ton of growth. I observed him in both of his high marks for conference minutes on Sunday night and his Jan. 4 contest against Penn State. It seemed like I was watching two different players. Booker had 14 minutes against Penn State in January, and he looked lost on the court. He had more fouls (four) than rebounds (three) and was the lowest player in +/- that night, at a paltry minus-four. Considering he played 14 minutes in a 31-point victory, that was not great. On Sunday, Booker was engaged and while he struggled on switches and was late on some coverages, he showed a massive improvement in under two months.
“He (Booker) struggled to rebound the ball, they (OSU) were getting rebounds in there.”
This is one struggle that Booker had where I completely agree with Izzo. In his monster stint to start the game, which was nearly 6.5 minutes, Booker drilled a three, had a dunk, and failed to record a rebound as a starting center. Wait, what? I made a quick note of Booker’s stats at the media timeout and refreshed the stat feed when I saw that stat. Sure enough, I started watching Booker closely on rebounds for the next 11 minutes he was in, and that first mark was less surprising. Booker struggled to box out and, at points, it looked like the freshman got caught ball-watching.
I’m not sure if this is part of a transition from high school to college, where Booker had superior size and mass compared to his competition. Regardless, he did not have the same ferocity that the other predominant center, Mady Sissoko, had on Sunday night.
Booker and Sissoko had similar playing time, but the senior outrebounded Booker 6-3. Additionally, Booker did not add a single offensive board. I will give Booker a pass on this statistic, as there were multiple layups and jump shots where Booker was in excellent position to either grab the ball or slam it home if it rattled out. However, those spots all occurred when the ball sunk home for MSU. Perhaps Booker was a good luck charm, or he spread the floor to help these shots fall.
“(From the start of the season in practice) You saw what Book was like. Tyson Walker said to me two days ago ‘man, he’s improved in two weeks.’ The easy thing for a regular to do is say ‘why don’t you play him more? Why don’t you do this?’ Trust me when I say Book knows exactly what’s going on. I spent hours with Book, hours. And it helped me, telling me what he was feeling, what he thinks he wasn’t ready for and was.”
This quote stands out to me. Izzo addresses the elephant of the room of the calls to “just play Booker more.” Izzo has mentioned having discussions with Booker about what to improve, what to emphasize, and what the freshman has put on film. Even dating back to my first time as a member of Spartan media, in December against Baylor, Izzo has mentioned these conversations with Booker.
Izzo is not benching Booker as coaching or with malicious intent. He believes he has a grasp on what Booker needs improvement on. Booker has improved a ton, even in the last two weeks, as said by Walker. Unfortunately, it does not help us feel any better about this decision. We have seen a talented freshman languish behind a senior player before (Jaren Jackson Jr., anyone?), and, at points, I think we all believe the safety gloves need to come off.
“We did it (started Booker) because we thought the matchup at center was more his size, compared to some of these beasts that we play against. So that has something to do with it. You don’t want to put a guy in there and he gets crushed and then his confidence goes to hell.”
Here is the continuation of the last quote, where Izzo addresses the choice for Booker’s first start. Booker was matched up with Felix Okpara, a sophomore center for the Buckeyes. Okpara (6-foot-11, 235 pounds) has a very similar build to Booker (6-foot-11, 236 pounds) and this was a logical starting decision. Both players are tall with room to fill in for Big Ten competition, and this made the matchup logistically make sense.
Izzo wants to avoid breaking Booker’s confidence with some of the players in the Big Ten, and it is hard to blame him with the matchups such as Purdue behemoth Zach Edey looming. That said, many of us have heard or started the arguments that not playing the talented freshman can also lead to a lack of momentum or rhythm on the court. It would be harder to make this argument if Michigan State basketball kept up its streak of trading baskets whether Booker was on the court or not, or the slide continued with Booker on the court. Instead, we are stuck with the argument of “what ifs” and no correct answer. There is no right answer for what the move was on Sunday, whether it is from Izzo, you, or my writings.
“(At practices open to media) You’d see what he could and couldn’t do, and he’s getting better. That’s what should happen, just like it did to Draymond (Green) in the end of the season, same with (Xavier) Tillman. That’s what the process is.”
Here, Izzo again brings up Booker’s progress and improvement. He has belief in Booker, Izzo is asking for patience. Unfortunately, when compared to the two Michigan State basketball legends that Izzo name-dropped, those teams had veterans on great Spartan teams. In 2008-09, the Spartans went 31-7 and recorded the bitter national championship game loss in Green’s freshman season. Tillman’s freshman season saw the Spartans at 30-5 and lose to Syracuse in the second round of the tournament, despite being a trendy pick to go quite a bit further. Is now a good time to mention that the Syracuse loss was the JJJ-Ben Carter debacle?
It is safe to say, the 2023-24 team is not one of those great teams. It is a lot harder to trust the process after the Spartans dipped to 17-11 following the loss. To be fair, that does help segue to my next point. Izzo has this habit and process, and it does work. Tillman and Green are two players who are making a mark in the NBA to this day.
The Spartan loss is frustrating, as we should not have to look at Booker as the savior yet. This team’s usual starting lineup has four senior or graduate players, and then junior Jaden Akins. There should be at least two players in that group that can power to 15-20 points a night and make most games an easy victory. We have seen that when Walker and Hall are on, most games are not nail-biters. However, this team has no consistency night-to-night. They smacked Baylor soundly and grinded their way to a victory over Illinois, but do not have any other players consistently showing up. AJ Hoggard and Akins have each had major games, but they appear to be one-off affairs as opposed to any showing to help guide the Spartans in a rough patch such as Sunday.
“We’re going to continue to grow with him, and he is going to be a superstar next year. I really believe that. He’ll be bigger and stronger and play more physical. And hopefully, we’ll make more progress this year.”
This continues Izzo’s last quote and a lot of what I said in the last part applies here. Booker is primed to take off next year, but Michigan State basketball having no offense at center has destroyed any patience we have. In my last paragraph, I mentioned Hoggard and Akins having the occasional good game. The one starter I did not mention was Sissoko.
Sissoko has the defensive aggression and rebounding capability and has the ‘hard hat’ attitude for Michigan State. However, there is no offensive game for the senior. I say this as both observation and from what I have heard from other coaches in the league when covering post-game for Michigan State basketball. Brad Underwood of Illinois mentioned Michigan State with “no production from the five.” The Spartans are stuck in four-on-five offense when they roll out Sissoko, Carson Cooper, or even Jaxson Kohler. We saw all three on Sunday between Booker heading to the bench with 15 minutes left and the end.
Booker is not a “superstar” now. That said, he has the most offensive spark on this roster. I understand patience and the process, but the Spartans might need to thrust Booker into action early to have any chance to make a run in the tournament this season, if they make it.
“With Kohler and Xavier we had more offense. Mady was by far the best rebounder of the bunch (of bigs).”
Believe it or not, this was Izzo’s first time addressing Booker’s offensive impact. Izzo had made allusions to Booker on offense, filed away under “a lot of good things.” However, much of this press conference was focused on the Spartan defensive lapses. As someone who has grown up in the Big Ten culture for both football and basketball, I understand the defensive focus. That said, it did stand out to me that this was the first time directly saying Booker was stout on offense.
Ironically, this question was about the other bigs besides Booker.
Izzo mentioned needing to look at the film and break down all that happened. It’s safe to say that I, along with all Michigan State fans, hope that Izzo can see there is a clear winner for the best offensive center. I can see Booker being pulled late in crucial games, where that extra possession from a board can swing the whole game. I just hope there can be a change made to feature more of Booker for his offensive impact.
Closing thoughts
Reading through this now, I can see my descent through the “stages of grief” when writing this. This was cleansing to rewatch the game and relisten to my press conference recordings. I have no desire to do so again, mind you, but this retrospect with days between helped me organize my thoughts.
Izzo mentioning Booker with Xavier Tillman and Draymond Green makes a lot of sense in how this has been handled. Additionally, those two became forces for Michigan State basketball and are still in the NBA today. I can see Booker with this impact. However, we do not have the luxury that Green and Tillman’s freshman seasons teams had. Even if Michigan State was 20-9 and dropped their last two games, I think there would be a different discussion. At 17-11, however, the fans are impatient and do not want to trust Izzo’s process anymore. Booker adds a spark on offense that this team needs.
By no means do I think any of us could ever out-coach Izzo. He has forgotten more about basketball than we could hope to know. Booker will not be the “cure-all” for this team. He will not fix the inconsistency or leadership woes, the lack of desperation, or two Spartan shooters going 6-for-24 in a night.
However, Booker can add a spark, and that is what the fans want. Booker won’t have the same game he had on Sunday every night. He won’t go 50 percent from the field every night and stay away from foul trouble. I believe Xavier Booker can help spark this team, and I hope to see him more.
Here’s to hoping we see a slightly new look of Michigan State basketball in the next few weeks.
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