REPORT: Spartans Utilize Homegrown Talent More Than Most Teams Remaining
In this story:
As college basketball has begun the NIL era, it is a rarity to see an entire team that has stuck with the same program. For Michigan State, seven of the top eight players that play the most minutes committed to the Spartans out of high school.
MSU coach Tom Izzo has expressed his displeasure with the transfer system in college basketball, which re-opened on Monday.
Spartan senior forward Frankie Fidler is the only transfer player who receives top-eight minutes for MSU. Fidler proved to be crucial off the bench in the Spartans’ win over New Mexico in the Round of 32. The Omaha transfer scored 10 points and led the team as a plus-19 in 14 minutes.
Saw someone mention looking at this going into the bench - so here are the top 8 players for each team by minutes per game + their original D1 school.
— cobra. (@cobrastats) March 25, 2025
For what it's worth - you could go 14 deep on Purdue and still just see Motion P's https://t.co/Bnax9ySrMc pic.twitter.com/ujTSsUTttD
The Spartans' opponent in the Sweet 16, the Ole Miss Rebels have undergone a complete rebuild in the past two seasons under head coach Chris Beard’s tenure. Only two of the Rebels' top eight players originally committed to Ole Miss.
Also in the South Region, the Michigan Wolverines only have one homegrown player in the top eight. Wolverines head coach Dusty May completely overhauled the roster in his first season as head coach, and it has worked out as Michigan had one of the most successful turnarounds from last season, a transition that wouldn’t be possible without the prevalence of the transfer portal.
The Purdue Boilermakers are the only team remaining in the NCAA Tournament in which all eight of their top rotation players are homegrown. Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter shares Izzo’s philosophy on transfers, as he doesn’t frequent the portal to add talent.
Kentucky Wildcats first-year head coach Mark Pope doesn’t have a single player that began their career in Lexington. On the other hand, Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari, has three players that began their career at Kentucky and transferred to Arkansas when Calapari made the switch to a conference foe this offseason.
Some transfers are the main reason why a few programs are still dancing. It’s hard to imagine the Arizona Wildcats advancing to the Sweet Sixteen without the contributions of North Carolina transfer Caleb Love, who scored 29 points in the Round of 32 thriller over Oregon.
Besides Michigan State and Purdue, there isn’t a team remaining in March Madness that has more than five homegrown players that receive significant minutes.
Remember to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and also be a part of our community group Go Green Go White WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
