Tyson Walker Coming Back To Michigan State Basketball, But Is There A Backcourt Logjam Now?

After Michigan State's Senior Day win over Ohio State, Tom Izzo led the Breslin Center crowd in a "One more year!" directed at three Spartan seniors who were eligible to return.

On Monday, one of those three formally obliged.

Tyson Walker announced via social media that he's officially returning to Michigan State for the 2023-2024 season.

Walker led MSU in scoring this season, averaging 14.8 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting, including 41.5 percent from beyond the arc. He transferred to MSU from Northeastern, where he was first-team all-conference and Defensive Player of the Year, ahead of the 2022-2023 season.

Walker's return means Tom Izzo will get back his entire starting backcourt for 2023-2024: Walker at shooting guard, senior-to-be AJ Hoggard at point guard, and versaitle junior-to-be Jaden Akins at the wing. Sophomore-to-be Tre Holloman is also expected to return. The Spartans also have five-star, McDonald's All-American guard Jeremy Fears Jr. joining the program for next season.

That's a lot of bodies for not as many minutes, and in today's day and age of pseudo-free agency in college basketball, you can't assume that all of those players will be OK with sharing time. So far, MSU has only lost one player to the transfer portal this offseason — Pierre Brooks, who never really broke through to become a permanent part of Izzo's rotation this past season.

With Walker officially returning, there's at least the possibility that someone in MSU's crowded backcourt might want to seek out more ample opportunity elsewhere.