Michigan State basketball reportedly close to landing portal center

Michigan State basketball is reportedly closing in on a portal center as the Spartans may have been shopping after all.

Tom Izzo is moving in silence this offseason. After watching pretty much every portal big worth chasing pick a new school, the legendary Michigan State basketball coach is zeroing in on one that doesn’t have the most elite offer list.

According to reports, the Spartans are looking like the leaders for Longwood center Szymon Zapala.

Hearing Szymon Zapala appears headed for Michigan State… URI and Wichita St. were right there, coming down to P5 NIL advantages. Rams remain in mix for other bigs and swing types.

— Chris DiSano (@CDiSano44) May 13, 2024

Does this name sound familiar? Well, it shouldn’t because no one had any idea that Izzo was even looking at transfer centers. However, Zapala appears “headed for Michigan State” per the above report and that means the Spartans would have beaten out Rhode Island and Wichita State — and also reportedly VCU. Not exactly a huge recruiting win for Michigan State and a bit of a head-scratcher of a center target.

Zapala averaged 9.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, and shot 62 percent from the floor in 16.7 minutes per game last season with Longwood. That was his first season averaging more than 1.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.

This target causes a little more confusion than I would’ve expected because it seems like Izzo is trying to target a center just to appease fans who have been loudly begging for one but not aiming for one that would legitimately improve the room. While he might be slightly better offensively than Mady Sissoko was, he also averaged under 10 points per game with Longwood and played just under 17 minutes per game. Not ideal.

Sure, this would add some depth to the room and potentially create a bit of a position battle, but I have a hard time believing that Zapala would be good enough to start on about 90 percent of power conference teams.

We just watched as Great Osobor committed to Washington on Monday afternoon while Izzo is targeting a center from Longwood who has only averaged more than 5.3 minutes per game in one of his four years.

This is something to monitor.