Let’s start off with this introduction: This is Tom Izzo’s most talented and deep team that he has ever had. We are not talking about leadership, athletism, or superior point guard play here. We are stating that #TheClass (We were the ones who introduced it to MSU Nation) coming back along with a more healthy, experienced, and determined group is a recipe for a national title.

Open Gym 

During football game days, the basketball program host recruits, alums, and has the current team members participate in some way shape or form in open gym play. This past Saturday with Tom Izzo being in Washington to honor his mentor and to show his respect was not present. Kenny Goins (burnt finger cooking (very minor), Ben Carter (Almost 100% clear but not just yet), and Nick Ward (on a two-week break (nothing big, so please don’t speculate) did not participate. Everyone else, for the most part, did play in some way shape or form. Foster Loyer and Thomas Kithier were present. We came away impressed with Thomas’s quick release and three-point accuracy. Loyer had a slow start but when he played Bridge’s team he really showed us that he belongs. He ended up hitting a three-pointer to win the game with Miles guarding him. As we tweeted out a little while ago, two prominent midwest AAU coaches both stated that this 2018 class is the Izzo recruiting class that Tom loves to coach. They both said without doubt that when they are juniors and if no one goes pro early, that this class will bring Izzo his third national championship (They both believe that MSU will win it all this year). 

We have to talk about how much of a savage (a compliment to those reading over the age of 30) Miles Bridges is. He played open gym with a sleeveless hoodie on with the actual hoodie being partially on. Now, this is not the first or last time Bridges has done this but he is such a great player that is so well respected that he does what he does and no one blinking an eye. He also is the most vocal player on the floor and he was somewhat mentoring/recruiting the highly regarded recruit who was visiting while playing during open gym.

Jaren Jackon Jr. is by far the second best player on the team. We will debate anyone on that fact. He is just so talented and versatile that he is very much Chris Bosh like in his prime. He and Miles will go pro after this season. They are just very talented and on another level. More to come on that in our next in-depth article. Joshua Langford is a very low-key efficient player who is a key part of MSU’s title run. He just plays smart and can score and play defense.

Leave the kid alone

Back to Thomas Kithier. Some in Macomb County and those high school coaches who feel that him transferring to Clarkston from Dakota is not right. They say that he should be loyal and stay with his Dakota teammates, etc. We disagree and we do not fault him for transferring. He is now at a school that is a public high school in Michigan. He could have easily transferred to a private out of state prep school like other top basketball players have done and will continue to do but he chose to stay in state. We will not disclose how he is immediately eligible to play at Clarkson, all we will say that is was a very creative way of doing it. Thomas and Foster playing together as they did for AAU will be good for their futures.

Izzo being Izzo

Coach Izzo being stressed out and being very vocal in the hallways of the Breslin center, nah……. Well, it is true but Izzo knows that this is by far his best chance to get his second national championship. He knows that it is national championship or bust and that he will have very few excuses if they fail to win it all. However, we all trust Izzo and we all understand that he needs to vent a little here and there before official practices start.

More to come

In closing, all of you should be very excited for this upcoming season. The biggest mystery is who will start. One person at the Breslin swore up and down that Matt McQuaid will start at the beginning of the season. Another said that Tum Tum will start over Cassius and both of those people are liars or don’t know how Izzo operates. In all seriousness, if I were you I would start looking for hotel and flights for San Antonio in April. The eye test shows that this is an extremely talented team that is very deep. It may not have a superstar point guard put you don’t need one to win a national championship in 2018.

P.S.

*All of the players live on campus in a brand new building on campus located near the Breslin Center.

*Xavier Tillman should not redshirt because he is the real deal.

*Below is an updated roster and 2018 commitment list.

Remember When in football starting on October 17th 2015…. We beat Michigan in Ann Arbor on the last play of the game to make it 7 out of 8 wins against U of M?

Remember When in football…We  beat Ohio State in Columbus on the last play of the game to essentially clinch the division championship?

Remember When in football…We destroyed Penn State to set up the possibility of having the chance to win our third Big Ten title in five years?

Remember When in football…We took “the drive” in Indianapolis and beat Iowa to claim our Third Big Ten Title to make it 3 out of 5?

Remember When in football…We qualified for the College Football Playoffs?

Remember When in basketball…We beat Kansas again, this time in Chicago?

Remember When in basketball…We were ranked #3 and beat Providence in California to win the Wooden Legacy tournament and then stick the trophy on a coffee table in the lobby of the basketball office because MSU has so many basketball trophies?

Remember When in basketball and football…Both teams in were ranked in the top 3 of the AP polls?

Remember When in basketball…we beat Louisville and Florida with multiple injuries on the team?

Remember When in basketball…We beat Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ohio State in a span of 30 days?

Remember When in hockey…We beat Michigan at a sold-out Joe Louis Arena to capture the newly created “Iron D” Trophy?

Remember When in basketball…Once again in Indianapolis we won ANOTHER Big Ten Tournament by beating Ohio State, Maryland, and Purdue in a span of three days?

Remember When in baseball..We started the season winning fourteen of our first fifteen games with wins over SEC teams and prominent programs?

Remember When in football…We went to South Bend and beat Notre Dame to start the season off 2-0?

Remember When in men’s soccer…We won twelve games and only losing three putting us highly ranked with road wins versus the like of SMU, Notre Dame, and Ohio State with big home wins against Michigan, Akron, and two Ivy league schools?

Member Berries…..Always there when you need them!

A roller coaster of a season for the Michigan State football team as it loses by double digits at home to a BYU that is not great. This coming off of an overtime loss on the road to our fieriest rival Indiana. Also, it being Michigan State’s third straight loss with the first of three coming off a 20 plus point loss at home to our second fieriest rival Wisconsin. Let’s shift gears to basketball to get our minds right.

Let’s talk about this season’s Michigan State Basketball team and its future. Miles Bridges as we tweeted out earlier may be one of the best players to every play at Michigan State when it is all said and done. He is more athletic and stronger then when legendary Jason Richardson was a freshman. He is strong finisher and can shoot better than people give him credit for. Not only can he finish but he can finish strong at the rake and dunk like you wouldn’t believe. What about the rest of the infamous #TheClass? Joshua Langford is playing well but he is not playing at the high level of Bridges but then again no one is. Think of Langford as a Chalie Bell type of player and be happy. We also tweeted about who you the fans thought would be the starters for this season. After talking to those who have been watching practice, the answer(s) may surprise you. For starters (no pun attended) you will see Tum Tum Nairn start at point guard. Cassius Winston lost about 15 pounds and is playing well but will not push Tum Tum for the starting position at least not until the end of the season. Gavin Schilling will start at center and looks like Tum Tum has his offensive limits but is a solid player and defender who Izzo trusts. Nick Ward will back up Gavin and he is getting the “Derrick Nix” treatment from Izzo because Izzo as we all know, expects a lot from those who are talented but may need some extra choice of words from time to time. Eron Harris has improved and looks to be next to Bridges having the second best week of practice and the second best player on the team period. Harris is the key to early season success. The shocker is, Matt McQuaid may find a way to start for the Spartans. It would make Bridges a hybrid small forward/power forward but Izzo seems to really trust McQuaid. When left open, McQuaid can easily hit the open jumper with ease. Another surprise is that Kenny Goins may be the 7th or even the 6th man of the team early on. He has still not been cleared for full contact but Izzo likes what he can bring off of the bench. What about the rest of the players not mentioned on the team? No comment.

Back to football (as we of course compare it to basketball), next to Tom Izzo’s best season of his coaching career when he and the Spartans won the national championship in 2000 was the 2006-2007 season when he lead the Spartans to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament before he and Michigan State lost to North Carolina.  Same can be said when Mark Dantonio had great success with two Big Ten Championships won in Indianapolis that lead to a Rose Bowl victory against Stanford and a College Football Playoff berth. But what he doesn’t get nearly enough credit for when in 2012 he kept the Spartans very competitive winning 7 games and winning their Bowl game against TCU.  Which bring us to this season. When Spartan fans want to anoint Dantonio the king of East Lansing over Tom Izzo we let them know that Izzo is not leaving his throne. If Dantonio can beat U of M and OSU at home this season, then we will reconsider but Izzo has ALWAYS been consistent and also makes the tournament. Dantonio if Michigan State doesn’t win at least six games and make a bowl game, then Izzo is the king of East Lansing until he retires. It is that plain and simple and it the bigger scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter and here is why.

All Spartan fans want at this point is what happened in 2012. We want the games to be close and win 7 games not 4 or 5. Then we want a bowl victory lead by our future quarterback for the 2017 season. It is that simple folks, it is that simple. Go to bed and download Napster if you have not done so already (30 day free trial) and stay away from talk radio and fans of other teams on social media until next Sunday.

The new hastags for the 2017 Michigan State Basketball incoming class that we came up with is #TheDreamFamily and #TheDreamClass. Based on the concept of the dream team but a strong sense of family in the Michigan State Basketball program and specifically who, how, and why they are recruiting these top basketball recruits of the the 2017 class. We created the hastag #TheClass and even we had a MSU fan who calls himself Spartan Designs (@sparty_designs) photoshop an old tweet to make it seem like he did and created it. We just ignore fans like that who try to claim our slogans as their own. We are very proud of the #TheClass hastag and name and the t-shirt that was created and worn my Miles Bridges as he announced his commitment to Michigan State. But now we move on to the 2017 class.

The first commit and the player who is the catalyst  for #TheDreamFamily is Jaren Jackson Jr. The versatile 5 star stretch power forward from Indiana is a huge pickup for Michigan State.  Rivals.com ranks him the 15th best player in the nation https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/1052. More on him in our next article profiling all of the members of #TheDreamClass.

Next up:  4 star  power forward Xavier Tillman from Grand Rapids Christian  https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2657 We expect him to announce his commitment to Michigan State sooner than later. He is ranked 86 nationally by rivals.com and his stock is rising.

There is two and then who should MSU fans expect to commit next?

Nojel Eastern or Brian Bowen

Brain Bowen ranked 22 nationally by rivals.com has ties to Saginaw as many of you may know. He is also high school teammates Jaren Jackson Jr. Bowen has some top schools going after him so if he does not commit soon, MSU fans don’t panic. He may take his time like Miles Bridges.

Nojel Eastern ranked 75 nationally by rivals.com has some Big Ten schools fighting hard for him to commit to them. Some recruiting experts are surprised that he has not committed to Michigan State. We are even curious to know why he has not. However, he may be weighing his options and we can’t blame him for that. We will see what he does within the next couple of weeks.

Who are we unsure of?

Gary Trent Jr. and Brandon McCoy ranked 11 and 13 respectfully by rivals.com

If we had to pick, we believe McCoy would go Green and pick Michigan State. We are still hearing conflicting things on both guys which is expected for guys this heavily recruited. We will keep you updated.

Wild card?

Paul Scruggs

Our first article written by us will reflect on this past season for the Spartans!

Some articles listed below in case you have been on summer vacation and have not been following Michigan State Basketball:

http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/07/penn_state_basketball_will_pla.html

http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2016/07/andrew_white_iii_opens_up_on_i.html

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/115591/michigan-state-recruit-miles-bridges-maxes-out-vertical-test

http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2016/07/jabari_parker_comes_to_moneyba.html

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/115684/miles-bridges-hits-his-head-on-a-rim-during-pro-am

http://isportsweb.com/2016/07/20/michigan-state-basketball-spartans-nba-summer-league/

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/07/22/michigan-matters-spotlight-tom-izzo-helping-holy-redeemer-ford-aiding-women-fighting-cancer-and-battling-for-the-white-house/

The Best Chance for a 1st Round Upset out of the 14 through 16 Seeds:

Fresno State beating Utah: Honorable Mention: Wisconsin-Green Bay

The Most Dangerous Teams to pull the 1st round upset 13 through 12:

Hawaii beating Cal: Honorable Mention: Chattanooga

This Year’s Potential George Mason 2006 Run Team:

Witchita State: Honorable Mention: Northern Iowa

God only knows who goes to the Sweet 16:

The bottom half of the East Bracket: From WVU to Pitt, who knows!

The year of 1st round upsets?

No, do not expect 12 seeds beating 5 seeds, etc.

Will the Big Ten Look impressive in the 1st Weekend?

Yes, Expect Michigan State and Maryland to advance to the second weekend. Do not count out Iowa and Purdue either. We will not be surprised if the Big Ten has 5 teams out of 7 make it the the Sweet 16

Will the NCAA get their 2nd Round “Dream” Match Ups?

No! Villanova vs Temple, Texas vs. Texas A&M, Notre Dame vs. Michigan, Indiana vs. Kentucky, Syracuse vs. Michigan State, etc. Half of those match ups will not happen

What is the Weakest Region Top to Bottom?

A toss up between the West and the South regions. By a slim margin we say the South.

What is the Weakest  Region seeds 1 through 4?

This may surprise some but it is the South Region 

The Most Dangerous Team Seeds 16 though 9?

Providence: Honorable Mention: VCU

What is the First Round technically upset  Lock?

#10 Seed VCU beating #7 Seed Oregon State

What is the Legit First Round Upset that few will see coming?

#14 Seed Fresno State beating #3 Utah

What Upsets to look out for in the 1st Weekend?

Hawaii beating Cal, Witchita State beating Arizona, Wisconsin Green Bay beating Texas A & M, and Gonzaga beating Seton Hall.

What is the most underrated “Blue Blood” Team in this Tournament?

Kentucky by Far

Best Sweet 16 Match up?

Hands down Kentucky vs. North Carolina

Did Michigan State get a unfavorable draw?

Yes! Playing UNC or Kentucky in the Final Four will be difficult. Beating Virginia for the 3rd straight year will not be an easy task 

But what about the location of games for Michigan State?

We Know but Location of games is very OVERRATED unless it is being held in your home state like when MSU played in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Our Final Four is?

MSU vs. North Carolina and Oklahoma vs. Maryland

National Champion?

Michigan State University

Part Uno of our Series, Cinco for Cinco

Kenny Goins, the reason Michigan State has taken it to a whole new level

By FinalFouru.com December 2^nd 2015 Follow us on Twitter: @MSUfinalfouru

Kenny Goins is a red-shirt freshman on Michigan State’s basketball team. An unheralded walk on from Troy, Michigan who played his high school basketball at Warren Mott High, Goins showed Michigan State fans tonight what type of basketball player he has become. Goins had division 1 offers from various mid-major schools like the University of Detroit but chose to walk on at Michigan State. He red-shirted his first year and this season, his second year as a student-athlete at Michigan State, he was offered for this season, a full ride athletic scholarship. While all of this was happening, a term that we came up with at finalfouru.com #TheClass was all of the talk among Spartan fans as Tom Izzo had put together his best recruiting class ever for the 2016 class. Little would Michigan State fans know, that a little known current player on MSU’s roster would propel them to an 8-0 record.

We are not claiming that Kenny Goins has been the number one factor of getting Michigan State to an 8-0 record right now, but we are arguing that he is the main reason they are 8-0 and not 7-1. Michigan State had played three games in four days this past week in California. Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes, and Deyonta Davis had gotten the Spartans to a 7-0 record and no one is arguing that fact. This Wednesday night in East Lansing, Michigan an unsung hero gave Michigan State a victory over #24 ranked Louisville and has Spartan fans across the country celebrating a hard fought victory over a nationally ranked opponent.

But first, what do Spartan fans really know about Kenny Goins? The answer, not much. In our first part of our five part series we will take a look at five Michigan State players and tell their stories and how they came about and how they have had an impact of this magical Spartan season. Kenny Goins played his entire freshman season on the freshman basketball team, not playing one game on the junior varsity level. By his sophomore season, he was moved up to varsity but was not a full time starter. During his junior season he started to blossom but some locally had his chances of getting a division 1 football scholarship more likely than that of a basketball one. By his senior season, he was going on being coached by his third different varsity head basketball coach and prior to his senior season was a standout football player on Warren Mott’s football team. It wasn’t until the start of his senior season did he officially get offered his first full ride division basketball scholarship. The summer leading to his senior season was the first summer he had played AAU basketball and he received looks but no official offers. Not only had Kenny have above a 3.5 GPA going into his senior year of high school, he was also Warren Mott’s school president and a three letter varsity athlete. Anyone who had watched a game that Kenny Goins had played in during his senior season may not have been blown away by his on court presence or his overall playing ability, but if they had taken a closer look, they could have seen his raw athletic ability and his high basketball IQ. He would end up leading his high school team to their first state quarterfinals before losing to a division 1 laden team in West Bloomfield High. Some locally may have said that Kenny was foolish to turn down full ride division one scholarships to walk on at Michigan State. But boy do those people look foolish now, because not only is Kenny Goins a legit division one basketball player, he is without question a solid Big Ten player on the best team in the entire Big Ten conference.

So why is Kenny Goins a former walk on red-shirt freshman responsible for Michigan State being 8-0? He carried the tired legs of Forbes, Valentine, Davis, and company to victory with his five points, thirteen rebounds, and his relentless defense and energy diving for loose balls and willing the Spartans to victory. Valentine for example looked spent and his legs did not allow him to play the defense he was custom to playing. Forbes did not play a ton in the first half but came on strong as Goins keep the play alive on the offensive end giving Forbes an opportunity to hit the three ball. Davis the highly touted freshman played better with Goins playing alongside him than any other Michigan State big man tonight. Tom Izzo saw enough in Goins during the Boise State and Providence games to trust Kenny in not only playing meaningful minutes but playing clutch time minutes down the stretch of the game. Usually, the Spartans would have lost this early season game and Izzo would have used the loss as a motivating factor for March but not tonight folks, not tonight.

This is not to disrespect any former walk on who wore the Michigan State basketball jersey, but Kenny Goins will be the best former walk on basketball player that Tom Izzo has ever coached. That is not an opinion but a fact. He is a special player that Michigan State is lucky to have. The future is extremely bright for the Michigan State basketball program and Kenny Goins is a big reason for that optimism.

Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of FinalFourU.com is strictly prohibited.

Michigan State as many of you are aware of now has four verbal commitments for the 2016 Class and there is a strong push to get Jackson on board especially from his former AAU teammate Miles Bridges. Miles commitment to Michigan State after sitting down with a very trusted source is more important than you may realize. Even after Jackson decided to leave the state of Michigan to go to his prep high school that he currently attends in California, he came back that summer to play for an AAU team called 1Nation coached by now University of Detroit Assistant coach Jermaine Jackson. That summer between his sophomore and junior year he played with that Michigan based team that had Miles Bridges and company on. Now,  Josh went on to play with AAU teams that are known nationally as the best that there are to offer and then some but our source says that he wants to “come back home” to Michigan aka Michigan State. Bridges, Winston, and now there is a very good chance that Jackson as well will play together at Michigan State. Our source says that it is not a “lock” like he had predicted with Bridges and Winston but he put Jackson at an 80% chance of committing to Michigan State when all is said and done. Jackson more than likely with take official visits to possibly Maryland and Kansas. Arizona with his Team USA connections is a possibility but for the first time we are solidly convince that Michigan State is in the driver’s seat.  The State of Michigan and coming back home brought back Bridges and we now believe will in the end do the same for Jackson. There is more to the story of the lure of coming to Michigan State and one story involving a certain female student athlete at MSU who may be dating a current football player but you know the story as LL Cool J once said, “If the love is real than it has to handle competition.” However, our second source cannot confirm that crazy rumor so it is just a wild rumor. All that we can say for certain is that #TheClass is going to be the best group of student athletes to come to Michigan State in the same recruiting class/year. Josh Jackson is Magic Ervin Johnson good and him joining this already stellar class would be beyond comprehension and simply amazing.

We came up with #TheClass first but let’s move on

We have 4 highly ranked and more importantly talented players coming in for the 2016 class. Miles Bridges, who is ranked No. 8 in the ESPN 100 has given Michigan State the number 1 recruiting class in the country. He joins five-star wing Josh Langford (No. 17), Cassius Winston (No. 29), and Nick Ward (No. 39) aka, #TheClass. Next on the list is the one and only Josh Jackson. #TheQuintuplets can become a reality and let us explain how.

We won’t have enough scholarships, right? Wrong, if you go to http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/michigan-state we can see why with the four committed recruits for 2016 that you would think that Michigan State is maxed out at 13 scholarships. For one, Kenny Goins scholarship is a year by year basis. Second, everyone involved with the program knows Eron Harris is going pro after this season. That makes room for Josh Jackson. Will he commit to Michigan State is becoming more and more likely but we will have a write up on Thursday of this week with more details on him and his possible commitment to the Spartans.

Now on to some side business. The twitter war that ourselves and another person were having on Twitter should not have happened. We got baited into it and we foolishly took the bait and started tweeting. For those who don’t know, it was over who came up the #TheClass hastag first. As much as we can go into depth about it, we would rather not argue with a high school teenager on Twitter or any other social media outlet. For those who follow us on Twitter, Facebook, etc. know the truth. We don’t need to argue on Twitter with another “alleged” Spartan fan. It won’t happen again.

On other side note, we want to make it perfectly clear that we or any other fan does not have any direct impact and or effect on Michigan State recruiting. Some naive fans think that they can “really” influence where a recruit goes to college. Now, if you give a recruit a hundred thousand dollars because you’re a big time donor than all bets are off and against the rules of course. The reasons why high school players commit to play at their future schools is because of the coach and coaching staff, current players on the team, the direction of the program, the school and social life it provides, and in some cases their AAU and high school coaches and or family members. This crazy notion that fans who have twitter accounts or make designs for certain for players have this profound impact on where they attend school is ludicrous. High school players want to know if where they attend school can eventually get them to “The League” aka the NBA. There are exceptions to this rule but ask any big time college coach or journalist and they will tell you the same. Miles Bridges didn’t wake up one morning and say, “FinalFourU” I have to go there or “Wow, I love this design of me as a Spartan, I must commit now”.  We with websites, Twitter handles, etc. are what Durrell Summers once called us, “People with Twitter Badges”.  No if and’s or maybe.

We have to address the Football “Meltdowns’’ as well. It is not how you start, it is how you finish. Did you know that the best Michigan State football team played the season of 2013? Do you know that, they struggled to “blow out” teams such as Western Michigan 26-13, USF 21-6, Iowa 26-14, Purdue 14-0, and Minnesota 14-3? Michigan State is 5-0 for the first time since 2010. Our schedule is on paper, the easiest it has been since possibly ever. Michigan State will be undefeated heading into Columbus, Ohio for the showdown between #1 and #2. We are 100% sure of this. Ohio State and Michigan State are playing with house money, not showing much at all, holding out players with minor injuries, and experimenting with 2^nd and even 3^rd stringers on offense and defense. Urban and Mark know exactly what they are doing like expert chess players. Let the season play out and all is well folks.

Lastly, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to tweet at us. We are always happen to answer any questions that you may have. We will come back on Thursday. As always, #TheClass #FinalFourU