Michigan State basketball: Jalen Haralson picks Notre Dame over Spartans

Michigan State basketball fans eagerly awaited the decision from five-star small forward Jalen Haralson on Wednesday night.

The wait is finally over, Michigan State basketball fans.

After sitting around, hoping for some good news on the Jalen Haralson front, it’s time to move on. The five-star small forward from La Lumiere in Indiana decided to go another direction after narrowing his list down to three this week. He was down to Michigan State, Indiana, and Notre Dame and all three had some sort of smoke all week leading up to his Wednesday night decision.

Ultimately, he chose Notre Dame.

This was a tough blow for the Spartans because they were hoping to kickstart their 2025 class with a guy like Haralson, but he decided to stay in his home-state. There was talk that Michigan State was in it until the very end, but rumors of massive NIL deals kind of put a damper on the Spartans’ chances — not that they don’t have a good NIL situation but rather because Tom Izzo doesn’t normally get into bag wars.

Michigan State will now move on to its other targets in the 2025 class who could become the first to commit.

Just this week, Michigan State made the trimmed lists of Haralson, Darius Adams, and Dwayne Aristode. All three of those guys are five-star prospects and that goes to show that Izzo is working hard to land the top talent in the class. He may not land everyone, but it’s not for a lack of effort.

Izzo will look to make a huge impression on a trio of elite visitors for Midnight Madness and the Izzone Campout over the weekend of Oct. 4 and that could potentially set off a domino effect.

So yes, this one hurts, but Izzo is in on so many elite prospects that it shouldn’t be the end of the world.