Rivals Rankings Week: Xavier Booker becomes 5-star, moves to No. 2 overall
Xavier Booker moves to the No. 2 overall recruit int he class of 2023.
Michigan State lands five-star Xavier Booker
It's a big day in East Lansing, as the Spartans 2023 class has its headliner.
Once again, another one-and-done 5-star elite recruit that looks like sh!t two seasons into his MSU career. Two seasons in, 6.1 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 42% FG, and 21% from 3.
A 6'11" 240 lbs, it's not as if the young man doesn't have NBA size...He's just going through the "Izzo Hypnosis" that makes offensively talented players doubt their skills.
What's bizarre, IMO, is that the kid showed up in top 5s of 2024 mock drafts, which assumed that the multiskilled star would develop and be drafted. There are a bunch of players with similar recruiting rankings (Rob Dillingham, for example) who are already IN the NBA. But the MSU system consistently makes 5-stars look like 3-stars deep into their careers.
Former 5-star recruits Max Christie and Jaren Jackson Jr say "hello", after escaping EL after one season with of course, criticism by Izzo...But they ended up okay/very good in the NBA.
Jaden Akins was ranked slightly ahead of Kobe Bufkin, and Akins is still toiling at MSU while showing up on no mock drafts. Bufkin was a first-round pick two years ago.
For a Michigan program that looks like it will put two C's ion the pros, I would definitely look at a Booker if he should hit the portal...I'd bet that MSU's system, and not Booker, is the actual problem. My question is: Why on Earth would Booker not consider leaving MSU? My observation is: Izzo seems to break down the confidence former NBA lottery locks and makes them feel as if they need him to "build them up".
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