{"id":88529,"date":"2025-04-21T17:32:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T22:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/tom-izzo-accepts-blame-for-xavier-booker-transfer-i-failed\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T17:32:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T22:32:27","slug":"tom-izzo-accepts-blame-for-xavier-booker-transfer-i-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/tom-izzo-accepts-blame-for-xavier-booker-transfer-i-failed\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Izzo accepts blame for Xavier Booker transfer: \u2018I failed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xavier Booker<\/a>, a former five-star, arrived in East Lansing as one of the highest-rated recruits for the program in almost a decade. Two years later, though, he has since transferred in what Tom Izzo<\/a> described as a failure of his own.<\/p>\n

Izzo spoke about the three players who have transferred from Michigan State<\/a><\/strong> in the portal so far this offseason last week with the media<\/a>. When it came to Booker, Izzo placed the blame on himself for how his career went while with the Spartans.<\/p>\n

\u201cBook, um \u2013 in Book? Make sure you take this right now. Um, I failed,\u201d said Izzo. \u201cI failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Izzo said he was never able, no matter what he did, to make the most of the potential with Booker. That\u2019s on him as the coach as he said since this player did all that was wanted of him. It just never came to be and, as such, Booker entered the portal at the first of April.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love him, I love Book. The day he came in with his family was a very difficult day for all of us. And, um, made him stronger. As a student-athlete, he\u2019s done an unbelievable job. It, just \u2013 I couldn\u2019t get enough out of him. That\u2019s not all his fault. That\u2019s my job. I do get paid for that and I did not get enough out of him,\u201d Izzo said. \u201cAnd, so, we talked, you know, during the year. I mean, I talked to Book a zillion times and it was all, for the most part, positive. And, I feel bad about Book because I think, deep down, there is a one hell of a basketball player in there and my job is to get that out of them and I didn\u2019t get that done. So, I have to take responsibility for it too. If I asked Book to be here morning, noon, and night, Book was here morning, noon, and night. I asked him to improve academically, with his strength, with this, with that. Book did it all. It just didn\u2019t translate into some things and, uh, that\u2019s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Book, it was, uh, it was no problem either,\u201d added Izzo. \u201cI mean, uh, you know, it was talked about, um, opinions were made that were all, I think, on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

Booker was the No. 14 overall recruit, as the No. 2 center<\/a> and the No. 1 player<\/a> out of Indiana, at Cathedral (Indianapolis)<\/a> in the 2023 class<\/a> per the On3 Industry Ranking<\/a>. That made him the top signee for Michigan State in that cycle<\/a> and their highest-rated commitment still since Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> in 2017.<\/p>\n

However, in 60 games played for the Spartans with just five starts, Booker posted only 4.3 points (42.5% FG, 27.3% 3PT) and 2.0 rebounds per game in 11.2 minutes played. He scored in double figures in only seven games and never grabbed double-digit rebounds. His time with the team then ended quietly as he played just three minutes for them in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament before not appearing in any of their final three games of the postseason in reaching the Elite Eight.<\/p>\n

With that, Booker entered the portal as one of three departures from the program along with Tre Holloman<\/a> (NC State)<\/a><\/strong> and Gehrig Normand<\/a> (Santa Clara)<\/a><\/strong>. He currently rates at No. 151 overall and as the No. 35 PF<\/a> in the portal per the latest update to On3\u2019s Industry Ranking<\/a> of 2025\u2019s Top Transfer Portal Players. Three days after his entry, Booker then committed to UCLA with the Bruins also having added Donovan Dent<\/a> (New Mexico)<\/a><\/strong> and Jamar Brown<\/a> (Kansas City)<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Booker did not work out in the end with the Spartans. Still, for all of the reasons why that may have been, Izzo put it on himself now that he\u2019s out in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The post Tom Izzo accepts blame for Xavier Booker transfer: \u2018I failed\u2019<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xavier Booker, a former five-star, arrived in East Lansing as one of the highest-rated recruits…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}