MSU gets commitment from 5-star Swanigan

Submitted by lukepanici on
5 star center Caleb Swanigan has committed to the Spartans. This gives Izzo two McDonald's AA big men in one class. It'll be interesting to see how he and Davis can perform together.

Brianj25

April 10th, 2015 at 11:22 PM ^

But I'm not sure it's true. 

"Early entree" guys are typically unanimous top-20 recruits. Izzo's had a decent amount of five stars and All Americans but there's a world of difference between a Branden Dawson and an Anthony Davis even though they're both considered "five star All Americans." 

Basically, most of the elite recruits Izzo gets aren't early entree material. Big Ten coaches like Ryan, Izzo, Beilein, etc. don't get enough credit for development. Whereas you have guys like Willie Cauley-Stein making literally zero improvement whatsoever in their three years at Kentucky and yet people still make the wild claim that Calipari develops talent. 

Brianj25

April 11th, 2015 at 12:14 AM ^

Also, doesn't take much to see the difference between Davis and Dawson. Davis could have started in the NBA as a 17 year old. Dawson had literally no basketball skills whatsoever coming out of HS - didn't make a single shot outside of ten feet in his entire high school career. He was ranked highly because he was 6'6, 220 with a 38 inch vertical. 

OccaM

April 10th, 2015 at 7:10 PM ^

Can someone PLEASE for the love of god look over the transcript or replay of Bo Ryan's interview. 

He was referring to graduate students, NOT freshman one and dones. He was talking about how he preferred development of freshman to seniors rather than getting 1 year transfers who did not come up via his program. 

 

 

1974

April 10th, 2015 at 9:37 PM ^

I understand that Illinois doesn't have the TRADITION (!!!) that Kansas supposedly has, but it's not an off-the-beaten track school in basketball.

Somehow, Bill Self is managing to get way better players in the state of Illinois while coaching at Kansas than he did while coaching at ... Illinois. Go figure.

bacon1431

April 10th, 2015 at 7:32 PM ^

If Izzo was as dirty as they come, he would have had Okafor and Alexander on his roster this past season.

He's annoying as fuck but he's not dirty. B1G is incredibly clean when it comes to basketball (outside of Crean).

GomezBlue

April 11th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^

Totally agree.  While Izzo pisses us all off, the Big Ten is known for playing it clean.  NO ONE has ever hinted at Izzo being dirty.  Bo Ryan is Dracula, but he only sucks the blood out of 4 year players.  Take your "dirty" shit to the SEC.

Edit: Sorry, this is meant for Butterfield.

JOHNNAVARREISMYHERO

April 11th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^

How about conviently brushing under the rug the Appling and Payne incidents.   

While everyone was hounding Hoke about Gibbons, that little incident was known and everyone kind of just ignored it and went back to shaking its fist and Michigan.  

When the media is in your pocket, you can do these things I guess.

Rick Grimes

April 10th, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^

Well that's disconcerting to hear. Anybody know how good this guy is suppose to be? I don't keep up with recruiting so forgive me if this is a stupid question.

alum96

April 10th, 2015 at 7:06 PM ^

Swanigan and Davis are 2 McDonald All American big men - both look like PF/C types. Swanigan is over 260 lbs so is a load already. Davis is the more athletic guy who plays above the rim.   Interesting both committed when they play a similar position.  But probably after Costello graduates one goes to PF and one to C in 2016-2017.

MSU is going to be loaded next year - Eron Harris and his 17 ppg comes in as a transfer to replace Trice, they bring back Costello as a SR at C now have 2 All American 4s, and Valentine is a SR.  Their PG cannot shoot but with that many guys on the floor he just needs to distribute.

It's not great - this pushes MSU up with Maryland for conf favorites next year.  And since Izzo loses no one early to the NBA (once a decade) probably going to be a squad together for a few years.  Very rare to get 2 horses up front like that if you are not Duke Kentucky Kansas.

Arlo Pear

April 10th, 2015 at 7:16 PM ^

Yet I won't be surprised if at some point in the season we hear how difficult it is to get all the new players on the same page. Or how they really miss the leadership from last year. Then they will get a lower seed and beat overseeded teams to make the sweet sixteen. What a tremendous coaching job by Izzo.

Lanknows

April 10th, 2015 at 9:17 PM ^

IMO.

Harris is better than Trice.  Dawson is a big loss but adding Davis/Swanigan easily offsets it.  They're also adding a couple wing shooters that Beilein targeted.  It looks like the most talented and experienced team Izzo has had in a long while... 

I can't wait for Walton-LeVert-Irvin-Dawkins-Doyle to roll into EL and kick their butts.

P.S. Maryland loses a lot more than MSU and gets adds less.