Michigan State basketball: Is this really what 'die trying' looks like?

Tom Izzo said that he was going to get Michigan State basketball to the top or “die trying” and his recent move doesn’t match that.

After all the begging, pleading, and lobbying from Michigan State basketball fans, Tom Izzo finally listened — sort of.

A transfer center was on every fan’s wish list this offseason and a motivated Izzo was obviously going to address that need, right? I mean, he did tell the media following his disappointing second-round loss to North Carolina that he would get Michigan State back to deep runs in March or “die trying”, after all.

That phrase — “die trying” — still dances in the heads of Michigan State fans, almost as a taunt for whenever something doesn’t go the Spartans’ way. Not landing an elite center in the portal and missing out on Bryson Tucker thanks to a last-minute push from Indiana just makes that phrase even more deafening.

But the news that surfaced on Monday afternoon was arguably the most disappointing of all.

Michigan State is the likely landing spot for Longwood transfer center Szymon Zapala who averaged 9.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in 2023-24. Obviously those numbers aren’t horrible, but it’s the fact that he didn’t play more than 20 minutes per game at Longwood and failed to crack 2.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game in his three-year career at Utah State prior.

That’s infuriating.

Sure, he could surprise us all and be a solid big man in the Spartans’ rotation, but that’s not something I’d count on. He’s the type of addition that doesn’t exactly improve the center position and just adds some third-string depth to the room, at most. Mady Sissoko may have been a better option there because he’s at least played at the power conference level and started. Zapala is the type of addition that doesn’t rock the boat and keeps the current average center rotation happy. Neither Jaxon Kohler nor Carson Cooper can be mad about this because he won’t take more playing time than Mady did.

This is a “keeping the team happy” addition rather than a “winning” addition.

We all had to sit back while Michigan added two really good portal bigs, Washington added Great Osobor, Indiana added Oumar Ballo, and most of the Big Ten got better down low. And this is what Izzo thinks is the right move.

I may sound like I’m only complaining here and not seeing the positive of adding a 7-footer, but it’s the fact that Izzo is not following his own vow just two months after muttering it.

Maybe (hopefully) I’m wrong and Zapala ends up being the difference between a first-weekend exit and a Final Four next year, but right now, that seems far from reality.

Is this truly what “die trying” looks like for the Michigan State basketball legend?