The mission for Michigan State basketball this past offseason was pretty simple.
It was clear MSU had the opportunity to be great in 2026-27 from the moment the 2025-26 season ended against UConn in the Sweet 16. A huge core of the team had remaining eligibility, and the Spartans had an elite recruiting class coming in.
There was just one pressing need to address: center. The biggest offseason losses were Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler, who were both highly productive players for Michigan State at the five last year. Kohler is now at BYU for his fifth year, but it certainly feels like he'd still be in East Lansing had the NCAA adopted its new 5-for-5 rule in March rather than June.
MSU's Path to Bonke
MSU did its due diligence in the transfer portal this offseason. The big name and potential prize was Aiden Sherrell, a Detroit native whom Tom Izzo and Michigan State recruited coming out of high school. Sherrell was among the top overall players in the portal after averaging 11.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game at Alabama last season.
Sherrell wound up landing at Indiana. It actually may have made sense, resource-wise, for the Spartans to back off from Sherrell. His NIL deal from IU is in the $4 million range, according to On3. That's probably more than what anybody on the Spartans' roster is making this year, with the only remotely plausible exception being Jeremy Fears Jr.
SMU transfer Samet Yigitoglu was another name that got thrown around a lot. He also transferred to Indiana, actually. Two other names that emerged were Washington transfer Franck Kepnang (landed at Kentucky) and Charleston transfer Christian Reeves (landed at Kansas).
Anton Bonke seemed like the "just right" guy for Michigan State. He wasn't going to break the bank NIL-wise as a mid-major transfer from Charlotte; he brought great size at 7'2" while also having decent athleticism, and Bonke has taken a major step in each of his three seasons in college.
Whichever center MSU got was likely going to be the Spartans' starter at the position this season. That seemed like the vibe when Bonke committed to Michigan State, but that's definitely changed.
Bonke's Preseason Struggles
Bonke technically has been the starting center for two of MSU's three preseason games, but he's barely played. He got 15 minutes back on Oct. 2 against Incarnate Word, but then he got just six minutes against No. 4 UConn last Tuesday and three minutes at Marquette on Sunday.
What's felt especially glaring is that Bonke hasn't played at all during the second halves against UConn and Marquette. Not one shift. Not a second.
“He just didn't seem as ready to play on a couple of things, but it wasn’t all his fault, too,” Izzo said following the Connecticut exhibition about Bonke's second-half benching. “There's no clarity yet, because we're one game and a half in. The clarity will come probably five games, seven games from now.”
What makes the lack of minutes a little more puzzling is that Bonke's play hasn't felt *that* bad. He hasn't entirely looked like the starting-caliber center Michigan State was likely hoping it had gotten in the transfer portal, but already cutting his minutes into single digits before the season officially begins seems like a little much.
Bonke still has plenty of time to turn things around, but if things continue to trend negatively, that drastically changes the outlook for MSU's rotation and season.
Impact on Rotation
If Bonke's role is truly going to be minor, that really increases the pressure on several other players on the roster. That's namely Jesse McCulloch and Ethan Taylor. They are the two other options Michigan State really has at center. Cam Ward has also gotten minutes at the five during MSU's exhibition games in a small-ball look.
McCulloch and Taylor have both been pleasant surprises so far. Taylor is one of the Spartans' several freshmen expected to contribute this season. His vision as a passer on offense and the space he can take up in the paint defensively are two obvious strengths. McCulloch can be the Spartans' stretch four or five. The big improvement for McCulloch largely just seems to be his confidence. The game has appeared to have slowed down for him.
Still, Michigan State may be asking a lot of the two of them. Taylor is still a relatively raw freshman, and McCulloch was out of the regular playing group in late February and March last season. The backcourt will likely have to shoulder some of the load, between Fears, Jasiah Jervis, and Jordan Scott. Fears is equipped to handle that, but the Spartans will need some leaps from Jervis and Scott for it all to work out, too.
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