Why Aiden Sherrell Is Missing Piece for MSU Title Push
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Everyone in East Lansing is waiting and waiting for a transfer portal center to announce their commitment to Michigan State.
The No. 1 player on plenty of people's wishlists is Alabama transfer Aiden Sherrell, who officially entered the portal with, reportedly, a "do not contact" tag on Thursday. MSU is in a position to be one of those teams in the race.
The Spartans recruited him coming out of high school; he's from Detroit, and Sherrell is the starting-caliber center Michigan State truly needs. He averaged 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game this past season in Tuscaloosa.
Unless anyone transfers out of the MSU program, the center is the Spartans' first and only need. Whomever MSU adds will bring the roster to 15 players, the current NCAA limit.
The Final Four is in Detroit next year, and Michigan State's roster could be the best the program has had since COVID erased that 2019-20 team's shot at a deep run. Bringing Sherrell into the frontcourt could be the push that MSU would need to reach contending status.
Why Sherrell Fits
The losses of Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper to the exhaustion of their eligibility are why MSU needs a center. Losing your two best big men at once can be a little tough to rebound from, which is why the Spartans need to be looking for a bigger name with a track record of production.
In fact, not taking a center back in the 2023 offseason is why Michigan State needs one right now. Cooper was supposed to redshirt as a true freshman, but Tom Izzo and the staff didn't pick up any big men transfers, sticking with Mady Sissoko. That is one of the reasons Cooper played that year. If he hadn't, Cooper would still be eligible, and MSU would be looking at a situation right now where it could ignore the portal entirely.
Sherell's Skillset
As for what Sherell can directly bring to the court, there are several things he can do with shades of what Cooper brought. Cooper was Jeremy Fears Jr.'s guy to throw a lob to after Coen Carr, and Sherrell is definitely athletic enough to be that pick-and-roll guy who will draw attention as a lob threat.
Sherell is also used to playing fast-paced basketball. Alabama was top-five nationally in adjusted tempo, per KenPom, during both of his years there. He only played 23.9 minutes per game as a starter this season, though, so the conditioning might need to improve a bit, given that Michigan State will look to create fastbreak opportunities on every possession.
Shot-blocking is also a major plus. Those 2.2 rejections per game ranked second in the SEC and 15th nationally. Cooper and Kohler averaged 1.7 blocks per game combined. The Spartans' defensive block rate of 13.5% was 19th in the country at KenPom, so that will also help the defense bounce back towards its elite expectations.
Sherrell can also help space the floor and be a perimeter option, something Cooper didn't do too much of, especially before his senior year. At Alabama this past year, Sherrell shot it at a modest 33.8% clip behind the arc on 2.4 attempts per game.
It's not the main way he gets his points, but it's enough of a weapon that defenses must respect it, and that opens up a lot of interesting options when screening for Fears. Sherrell can, again, roll to the basket for a lob, but he can also pop back out for a look from three. Cooper could "pop" for a mid-range jay, but defenses can recover from hedging/icing ball screens more easily simply because the distance to the shooter is closer.
This doesn't necessarily apply to Sherrell, but another reason Michigan State needs to be targeting an upper-tier portal center is that it would be too risky to give larger roles to other options.
Rising redshirt sophomore Jesse McCulloch was out of the team's rotation during the Spartans' March Madness run. Incoming four-star recruit Ethan Taylor has sky-high potential and is good enough to get some minutes right away, but he probably isn't a ready-made starter.
To make a Final Four or make a National Championship, you need to have strong options one through five on the court. MSU has done enough to solve spots 1-4, but that last name will determine a lot next season. Sherrell is the right option for the Spartans moving forward.
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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