Brandon McCoy Doesn’t Choose Michigan State

Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans got some unfortunate news late on Tuesday. They lost out on 5-star center/power forward Brandon McCoy who announced on twitter that he would be attending UNLV for basketball next season.

McCoy, who plays his prep basketball in San Diego, is originally from Chicago and was evidently tempted enough to return to the Midwest area because he kept the Spartans high in his thoughts throughout the process. Michigan State was a top three school for him along with Oregon and eventual winner of the McCoy sweepstakes UNLV.

Michigan State basketball still has at least one scholarship available to them for the 2017-18 season and the possibility of one more opening due to the appeal of Ben Carter for a medical redshirt and a sixth year of eligibility. There's also the possibility a current player transfers and that could open up another roster spot on next year's squad.

According to 247Sports, Michigan State still has three scholarship offers outstanding to uncommitted recruits. One of those recruits is Mark Smith a combo guard out of Illinois. Smith said on Twitter his decision will come tonight and according to most recruiting projections, Illinois and Michigan State are his reported top two. He was also recently recruited heavily by both Kentucky and Duke.

The other outstanding offers for MSU are to forwards Brian Bowen, where Michigan State is a top five school (according to Bowen), and Jeremiah Tilmon, who is expected to commit to Missouri according to 247Sports.

If Izzo doesn't get any of the freshmen he wants, a graduate transfer might be the route he takes to filling out his allotted scholarships for next season.