3 quick takes on the Spartans as practice begins

1. As Izzo begins his 31st season as MSU’s head coach, he still sounds invigorated

EAST LANSING — There will come a day when Tom Izzo is no longer the men’s basketball coach at Michigan State. That’ll be jarring in more ways than one.

Good news for MSU: As practice officially began Monday ahead of his 31st season, Izzo didn’t sound like a man who’s thinking about doing something else, even just hours after his second granddaughter, Sophie, was born.

“That’s a pretty good day for me,” the 70-year-old Izzo said of welcoming Sophie and kicking off practice.

Even when asked if he’d walk away if he won another national championship, he bristled.

“It’d be a cold day in hell before I quit then. So don’t worry about that,” he said, inferring that he’d love to bask in coaching as a defending champion.

As much as the landscape has changed and as many of his colleagues duck out — the latest Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, who retired Monday to give his son the job — Izzo sounds invigorated. 

I think he likes his team, he likes being Tom Izzo, and he loves what he’s created at MSU over three decades. When he asked about the most recent “Grind Week”, with many of his former players / pros returning several weeks ago to workout, scrimmage and hang out together, he said, “Nobody in the country will ever have what we have. Nobody. They never had it and they’ll never have it, because (what other coach is) going to stay long enough to even enjoy it?”

That’s a lot to walk away from.

“(You’re) still stuck with me. Sorry,” he said.

It’s a deal most fans will happily accept, even those who get frustrated with him from time to time.

2. The versatility of this MSU team is intriguing, and Cam Ward is among the reasons for it

Part of why Izzo likes this team is its numerous lineup possibilities and versatility, especially in the frontcourt. 

You could see a potential lineup with Jaxon Kohler at power forward, next to Carson Cooper or Jesse McCulloch, or Kohler at center, with freshman Cam Ward at power forward. And you might even still see Coen Carr at the 4-spot as the season goes along, if MSU’s best lineups include him with three guards. And that would have a trickle-down effect with the big guys.

My sense is that Carr is going to play mostly on the wing this season, given MSU’s personnel and Carr’s developing game. But when the games start and performance and matchups dictate decisions, we’ll see. 

“I’m really, really excited to see how it is when practice gets going, and you can scrimmage, and you can do things on a little regular basis day in, day out,” Izzo said. “It is a versatile group. It’s not like there’s a huge amount of separation. But we’ve had a blueprint for that, and it’s worked pretty well.”

Ward sounds like he could be a big part of that. Izzo couldn’t hide his excitement over the 6-foot-8 freshman forward. He talked about a number of guys in a positive light. When it came to Ward, you could just about feel Izzo’s pulse.

“Cam Ward might be the strongest, toughest freshman I’ve had in a while, and that’s going to be encouraging,” Izzo said.

“I mean, he reminds me of a mix between Antonio (Smith) and … I don’t know. He’s got skills, he can score the ball, but he’s got toughness and strength, and he has really made it hard on Jaxon Kohler, which is making (Kohler) a better player.”

Of note: Jeremy Fears’ vertical leap and four captains

Among the newsiest developments from Monday was Izzo’s assessment of redshirt sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., whose game and body is now in the sort of shape that’ll make it easier for Fears to lead, Izzo said.

“It did take me last year to realize, (if) you miss a summer, you miss a lot in this sport, and he’s jumping so much better. I think his vertical is five inches higher,” Izzo said. “He’s in better shape. I mean, his shot is much better. What does that mean? It still means what you said might be the most important. Can he lead us? And leading us happens when you’re having success in your own game. You’ve got to feel good about yourself to make others feel good.

“He’s gained some weight, good weight, which he didn’t really need to but he’s even stronger. He’s jumping better than he was jumping. He’s really gone to work on eating well, working out well. He’s way better with the basketball, so we think he can get to the rack a little bit more now that he’s shooting better at the free-throw line. And he’s way better defensively than he was a year ago. So what’s going to be like in the next couple of weeks? I’ll give you a better, clearer picture (then). I’m telling you what he did this summer.”

Fears is such a key to this team, especially now that Jace Richardson and Tre Holloman are no longer around. Everything starts with him.

He’s also one of four captains — along with Carr, Kohler and Cooper — voted on by the team. Izzo said in other years, he made a mistake of waiting to name captains to see which leaders emerged. Having captains right away, he said, allows them to set a tone. And those four mainstays have earned it.

“I did a poor job on the captain’s thing (in some other years),” Izzo said. “And you’re going to walk in the office and there’s going to be pictures of them up there. Sometimes, when you don’t feel you have a real captain … sometimes you have those years. So I did a poor job, because that should be made a big deal about every year.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X at @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.