Podcast: Spartan Hoopers Who Have Improved This Offseason
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The 20th anniversary of the Moneyball Pro-Am has concluded, and members of Michigan State's 2025-26 roster showed out.
The Spartans have several returners and newcomers, but it will be the strides the returners have made that will dictate the type of season this squad has.
While Moneyball doesn't have the same level of intensity as a normal college basketball game, you could tell which players have improved since the Spartans' 2024-25 season concluded in Atlanta back in March.
Our Aidan Champion identifies these players on this latest episode of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast. You can watch the episode below:
Michigan State senior center Carson Cooper spoke at Moneyball last month. Below is a partial transcript:
On offseason workouts ...
Cooper: "Pretty good so far. Right now, we're kind of getting into the meat and potatoes of the offseason right now in July, kind of mid-July. But it's going really well. The team chemistry is continuing to grow, and that's the big thing that coach (Tom Izzo) obviously is harping on, especially from our team from last year.
"But yeah, right now, everything's good. Obviously, trying to rehab all of our guys that are kind of hurt and all of that. Getting Jesse (McCulloch) back, and Jordan Scott back, and obviously, getting Kaleb (Glenn) back in rehab and getting himself going. But other than that, it's been pretty well."
On McCulloch ...
Cooper: "Jesse's a really mature guy that we have on our team, so he's kind of understand -- he's kind of been through the wringer I guess, like last year, kind of traveling with us and everything, except just not playing.
"And I think first couple of games, the tempo and all of that is going to be -- it might take some getting used to and all of that, but I think, overall, he's mature enough to really lock in and understand and still be able to take in what coach is talking about during practice and stuff and just taking it in, watching our practice and being able to incorporate that into the games and into our schemes and all of that."
On if he sees himself getting the green light to shoot from deep ...
Cooper: "Yeah, I think so, for sure. Right now, I don't think my shot was ever broke; I just think we never really saw -- it was probably more of the confidence, the comfortability of how I was feeling and all of that.
"But yeah, right now, I feel really good about it, and coach is giving me confidence. He wants me to shoot it just as much as I want to. So yeah, hopefully I'll be able to knock down one or two every once in a while."
On having shooters on the team ...
Cooper: "I think right now, it's just finding the good medium between what a good shot and what a bad shot is. I think last year, we might have taken too many bad shots that really hurt our percentage and everything like that, so being able to get our team chemistry good and finding good shots, then we're going to make more shots. It's pretty simple."
On getting newcomers incorporated ...
Cooper: "It's been really good. Obviously, coach is really particular with who he recruits, especially with the new age of basketball. But all of our guys are really -- they're wide-eyed, obviously, but they're open to learning and they're open to understanding our schemes and how we play and everything."
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