The excitement surrounding Michigan State Basketball 2024-25 is increasing

Expectations for the Michigan State basketball team in the 2024-25 season are seemingly low.

Why? Malik Hall and Tyson Walker are gone, and both Mady Sissoko and AJ Hoggard have moved on to other programs. The entire roster will look largely different, and the Spartans will rely on younger players to step in and carry the load. Oh, and the center position is still a big question mark.

But “Moneyball” changed that attitude a little bit.

No, I’m not saying we should focus on Moneyball stats, but on how players look compared to last season. Jaxon Kohler seems to be in the best shape of his life, Jeremy Fears Jr. is still getting healthy but he seems to be close to 100 percent, Xavier Booker is working out with Jaren Jackson Jr., Szymon Zapala is running the field well, Frankie Fidler is a scoring machine, Kur Teng will be a problem, Gehrig Normand is a dazzling shooter, Jase Richardson is surprising people, and Coen Carr has gained a little more range on his shots.

This team is adding some key traits in the offseason that will make them exciting for the 2024-25 season.

We all know what happened when expectations were sky-high heading into the 2023-24 season. It always feels like when you expect Tom Izzo’s teams to win it all, or at least come close, they don’t measure up. Last season was a prime example.

And I think that’s why the excitement should be building for 2024-25. Not much is expected from the team and some experts had even predicted the Spartans to finish in the 10-12 range in the conference next season, but usually that’s when Izzo has his best coaching season. That’s exactly what I expect here.

I’m fascinated by all the offseason developments and the fact that the new additions all seem ready to compete right away. In a matter of weeks, my opinion went from “maybe they’ll be pretty good” to “I think this team could have power.”

Let us hope that the same will happen in 2024-25.