Michigan State Basketball: Transfer approach will be more like Purdue than Illinois

Tom Izzo spoke on a recent radio show about the Michigan State basketball transfer portal approach and had interesting things to say.

Every program has a different approach to the transfer portal, and that includes Michigan State basketball.

In an appearance on the Tim Staudt radio show this week, Tom Izzo described his approach and mentioned he was going to take a similar approach to one Big Ten team compared to another. The teams he mentioned were Purdue and Illinois. He mentioned how delicate the transfer process is and doesn’t want to create a roster that is upheaved every year. This is where Izzo mentioned Purdue compared to Illinois.

An example of this is from this past offseason when Purdue found a guy in Lance Jones that could elevate their roster. This is a different approach than Illinois. The Illini have taken more transfers and their roster has changed a decent amount every season. These two teams have had different approaches but they both have been successful. If you look at two of the top teams in the Big Ten, Illinois and Purdue have been just that and that shows that both of their transfer approaches can and do work. This is why Izzo wants to try to replicate one of them.

Izzo has always shown and talked about how culture is important to him. In the world of the transfer portal, keeping that culture intact will be more difficult but it’s something that he wants to continue to do. That’s why he still has former players come back but this also means that Michigan State basketball will not be as heavily invested in the transfer portal as other teams.

Because of this, this has caused some frustration within the fanbase.

Fans will not see Michigan State next to a lot of names. At this moment, it seems like the two names are Frankie Fidler and Trey Townsend. This doesn’t mean that Izzo and the coaching staff aren’t looking in the portal. It seems like they know they need a player or two, it just is going to be more of an approach of targeting 1-2 guys instead of doing a large overhaul to a roster every year.