The latest on Michigan State’s basketball targets in the transfer portal, including Frankie Fidler
East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State basketball continues to be deep in the evaluation and recruiting stages of the spring transfer portal period, with no movement yet. Spartan head coach Tom Izzo appeared on a local radio show, Wednesday, and provided an update. And SpartanMag has more on potential targets.
In a radio appearance on the Staudt on Sports radio show in Lansing with WILX Sports Director Tim Staudt, Izzo said the following:
* AJ Hoggard will not be returning to Michigan State, and is likely going to forge a path into the pro ranks.
* Mady Sissoko will not be returning to Michigan State, and is setting up visits to Colorado, Washington and California as potential transfer destinations. San Diego State is also in the picture.
* Izzo said he has made initial phone calls to five potential candidates for his vacant assistant coaching position, but said he will wait until after the transfer window closes on May 1 to put full attention on that vacancy.
* As for Michigan State’s pursuit of players in the transfer portal, he said, “We have a spot for one or two, potentially.”
Michigan State received an official visit this past weekend from transfer candidate Frankie Fidler, a 6-foot-7 wing who averaged 20 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 35 percent from 3-point range last year at Nebraska-Omaha.
Fidler has also visited Wisconsin.
Wisconsin was seen as the leader prior to Fidler’s visit to Michigan State. Two sources close to the recruitment tell SpartanMag that the visit went well for Michigan State, perhaps extremely well. Michigan State is confident and is hoping for good news this week, but nothing is definite at this time. In addition to Wisconsin, Creighton is also a potential landing spot for Fidler.
Frankie Fidler averaged 20 points per game at Nebraska-Omaha in 2023-24. (Photo by Dylan Widger | USA TODAY Sports).
As for other transfer targets, SpartanMag was the first to report that Trey Townsend of Oakland University is expected to be on Michigan State’s campus, Tuesday. Townsend, a 6-foot-6 power forward, averaged 17.3 points and 8.1 rebounds as Horizon League Player of the Year in 2023-24. Townsend has visited Michigan.
Other transfer candidates who have blipped on the Spartans’ transfer radar include:
* Ryan Conwell, 6-4, 195, Jr., Indiana State
* Matt Cross, 6-7, 230, Sr., Massachusetts
* Keyshawn Hall, 6-7, 230, Jr., George Mason
* Koby Brea, 6-6, 210, Sr., Dayton
* Javon Small, 6-3, Sr., Oklahoma State
Ryan Conwell started 21 games as a true freshman in 2022-23 at South Florida for former USF coach Brian Gregory, a former Michigan State assistant, prior to transferring to Indiana State last year.
Conwell, of Indianapolis Pike High School, averaged 16.6 points per game for Indiana State this past season while shooting 40.7 percent from 3-point range. He scored 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting against Michigan State on Dec. 30, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range.
Matt Cross was first-team All-Atlantic 10 this past season and was NABC All-District.
Cross averaged 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds for UMass. A rugged power forward with some stretch shooting ability, Cross shot 32.9 percent from 3-point range on 79 attempts.
Small was honorable mention All-Big 12 this past season, averaging 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range.
Keyshawn Hall was second team All-Atlantic 10 this past season, averaging 16.6 points and 8.1 rebounds.
Last week, Hall listed Michigan State in his top four, along with USC, Arkansas and UCF.
Koby Brea averaged 11.1 points and 3.8 rebounds, mostly while coming off the bench as a wing guard. He led the nation in 3-point percentage at 49.8 percent (100 of 201). Brea was named Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year award twice, but was moved to the starting lineup for four of the last five games of the season. He is regarded as the best shooter in the portal.
Michigan State, Kentucky, Wisconsin and UConn are among the schools who have contacted Brea, who is a product of Bronx (NY) Monsignor Scanlan High School.
“May 1 is the deadline for kids (to transfer), so we’re trying to take care of our own kids and look and see what’s out there and what is possible without upsetting the apple cart,” Izzo said on the radio show. “We’ve been pretty lucky in some ways. I know people get frustrated, and they see this movement, but what movement does when you’re talking five, six, seven guys, it creates some positives. Purdue got one guy (last year), that was more like what we would like to do. Illinois has been there; one year it meant they finished ninth in the league and one year it worked out for them, this year a little bit more. Now they are back, with a bunch of guys leaving. So it’s a very delicate thing.”
Izzo was asked if he is against getting into transfer negotiations which could involve discussions of money.
“Oh no, I have to do that,” Izzo said. “It’s just a matter of do you want to sell your house for different amounts of money. I mean the portal, as Jonathan (Smith) and I talked yesterday, some of the numbers are completely fictitious and some of the numbers are completely true. There are guys that I know that played in a Final Four and got $20,000, and there are guys that you’re hearing rumors of getting $1 million. It’s so crazy that every kid is going to look differently at things and see what happens.
“I think that’s the perception out there that I don’t want to spend the money. First of all, it’s not my money. Second of all, everybody is spending money. I don’t know how long; I still think it’s unsustainable, but we all have to get into that sweepstakes. It’s like recruiting, you have to have private planes, you have to do things, it’s money, money, money.
“You’re seeing coaches getting out, you’re seeing guys getting fired, you’re seeing guys leaving because I think people expect more when they think you can just buy a player, and they expect more out of the player. I think you’re going to see more pressure on players.
“I’ll say it till I’m done and after I’m done, I don’t think it’s best for the student-athlete in the long haul. I think there is getting to be a lot of mistakes. It’s very tricky. We spent hours just watching film of guys that somebody else ranks high that might have played at Northern Michigan for gosh sakes or might have played at Duke, that’s the kind of spread in this whole thing. It’s confusing, it’s hard and it’s different, and everyone is having to adjust to it, including us. But I’m a little sad for college athletics, because I don’t think it’s what’s best for football, basketball or any other sport.
To say the portal and the situation is probably mind-boggling for myself, probably for Jonathan Smith, and 350 college basketball coaches and 120 football coaches would be an understatement. It’s been a different off-season. It’s been such a crazy period of time since we lost to Carolina, we have worked almost around the clock.”
SISSOKO LOOKING WEST
Some of that work has gone into advising Sissoko, who entered the transfer portal on April 4.
“Mady is a tough one,” Izzo said. “He had a tough year. Yet I’m telling you he is a lot better player than all the abuse. Our centers took some abuse, and some of it rightfully so; some of it, we have to take some blame on, not getting it in there and things.
“But Mady is looking at some schools like Washington, and Cal, and Colorado. I think he’s got visits set to those schools and we’re trying to help him. I know people at San Diego State.
“Mady, like a Foster Loyer, will be a guy that will leave here in great graces. He’s going to graduate. He’s going to accomplish some things, and yet some of me is sad on Mady leaving because I think he was progressing as a sophomore, and then his junior year he did not have as good a year, so we are going to help him get where he wants to get.”
Michigan State is set to return Jaxon Kohler, Xavier Booker and Carson Cooper along the front line, plus incoming 6-foot-9 freshman Jesse McCulloch. SpartanMag has not yet detected Michigan State involvement with any true centers in the transfer portal.
At this stage, Kohler and Booker are the presumptive starters at the five and four, with Cooper off the bench, and the possibility of a transfer along the lines of a Townsend or a Cross working in as a power forward. The question is whether Michigan State can attract a starting power forward, with Booker in place. Can Michigan State keep Kohler if the Spartans sign a true center who is capable of pushing Kohler as a starter?
“What’s starting to happen is if you get somebody, you lose somebody,” Izzo said. “So you have to get the right kind of kid that is going to help your team and the right kind of kid that is going to fit in with the other players.”
HOGGARD NOT RETURNING TO MICHIGAN STATE
Outgoing senior point guard AJ Hoggard has one year of COVID-waiver eligibility remaining, but Hoggard is testing the professional ranks for a second straight spring. Hoggard and former Michigan State guard Tyson Walker will play at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, April 17-20. The Portsmouth Invitational is a scouting showcase in Portsmouth, Va.
“AJ is looking to make a pro career,” Izzo said. “But he could go back to college; it wouldn’t be here. We have some younger guys and he has exhausted his and he will graduate, but I think he would like to get into pro ball, whether it be Europe or the G League, but nowadays everybody will look at college too, depending on offers from different places.”
With Hoggard moving on, Michigan State has sophomore Jeremy Fears returning at point guard, with Tre Holloman and incoming freshman Jase Richardson capable of being combo guards. With Javon Small getting interest from Michigan State in the portal, the Spartans apparently aren’t against adding another player to the roster in that category.
Izzo is eager to hand the leadership reins over to Fears.
“I’m excited about our team,” Izzo said. “At the point, I think people are going to be surprised. When you get a quarterback, things fall in place.”
ASSISTANT COACHING SEARCH ON HOLD
Izzo said pursuit of an assistant coach to fill the vacancy created by Mark Montgomery’s move to become head coach at the University of Detroit is on hold at the moment.
“I’ve called five or six people, but I haven’t really touched it yet,” Izzo said. “We’re trying to get through this portal, trying to get through finals with our kids, and then we are going to sit down and spend some time on that.”
As for the rest of the staff, things appear to be stable with Doug Wojcik, Thomas Kelly as returning assistant coaches.
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