This is not familiar territory for Tom Izzo. He finds himself in a heated battle for one of the top names on the transfer market this offseason in Radford’s Carlik Jones, the reigning Big South Player of the Year.
When Jones announced that he would be entering the NCAA transfer portal last week, Michigan State was one of the first schools to reach out to him.
However, he had a wealth of options and Izzo would likely have to duke it out with dozens of programs to stay in the running. On Monday, he trimmed his list to a final eight schools, which includes Radford, and Michigan State made the cut.