“To reach the ceiling.” A unique sports term based solely on speculation and projection.
For Jeremy Fears Jr., his decision to remove himself from the 2026 NBA Draft process means there is still room to grow to get to where he wants to be – a first-round pick.
For Michigan State basketball, Fears’ return next season means Tom Izzo’s team has a better chance to return to the promise land – another national title.
Neither outcome is predetermined, of course, but hope springs eternal when it comes to chasing a bar that gets raised in sports. Yet the Spartans and their point guard should enter the summer feeling better about the odds of both situations come a year from now.
Fears waited until the final hours before the deadline late Wednesday night, May 27, to announce he was withdrawing from the draft. The All-American will be back for a fourth season at MSU, a redshirt junior looking to build on his strong showing at the scouting combine in early May, in which he impressed scouts and general managers with his ability to be a floor leader and orchestrator.
That doesn’t mean refinement isn’t necessary. But a scout who saw Fears at the combine believes it’s possible for him to come back and take his game to the next level at MSU.
“I think he’s close,” the scout told the Free Press on the condition of anonymity, before Fears’ announcement. “If he can show that he’s gotten better at knocking down a jump shot, and I see him go in big games and lock down the best [scorer] or cause some crazy deflections and stuff like that, that shows, man, his defense has improved and he’s shooting it better than what he did. Then I think, like that late first round turns into maybe a late lottery-type situation or early first round.”
Fears led the nation at 9.4 assists and was fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.86) while leading the Spartans with 15.2 points and 32.5 minutes a game. The native of Joliet, Illinois – who officially came in at 6 feet and 196.2 pounds at the combine in Chicago – set the MSU single-season assist record with 328 while shooting 43.1% from the field, 32.1% from 3-point range, and 88.5% at the free throw line, all while adding 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals.
The Spartans went 27-8 overall and 15-5 in Big Ten play, tying for second in the conference before advancing to the Sweet 16 for the third straight season. That came after Fears – in his debut season as a starter, a little more than a year after a December 2023 gunshot wound ended his freshman year prematurely – helped them to a 30-7 record, a Big Ten regular-season title (by three games) and an Elite Eight berth in 2024-25.
The scout said he felt Fears should go back to college, particularly because of the program he’d be returning to and the coach he plays for.
“It’s not like you’re playing for a terrible program. It’s like, y’all are on TV, winning,” the scout said. “Everybody knows he’s playing for Tom Izzo. ‘Oh, OK, so we know he’s been coached hard, he knows his stuff.’ We look at his brother [Jeremiah Fears, a rookie with the New Orleans Pelicans last season], we understand all that. And next year, the draft is not as strong as this one. But with so many guys going back to school, it might be shifting a little bit stronger, you know.
“But at the same time, what [Jeremy Fears] does well is being unselfish and getting people involved. That’s his calling card, so that could make him a lot of money.”
It also makes MSU a frontrunner for what would be Izzo’s record-breaking 12th regular-season Big Ten title and a contender for the 2027 Final Four in Detroit, which would be his ninth.
The Spartans bring back fellow captain Coen Carr, who on Instagram earlier in May called Fears “my right handdd.” Their connection and veteran presence, along with their hunger to deliver Izzo his second national title and leave their own personal legacy, will be leaned on to guide a young and talented group that could be one of the Hall of Fame coach’s most well-rounded rosters.
MSU should be an improved shooting team with the return of junior Kur Teng after a late-season surge, a lengthy second-year starter in Jordan Scott and a healthy Kaleb Glenn (a transfer forward who missed all of last season following a June knee injury). Two incoming freshmen, shooting guard Jasiah Jervis and point guard Carlos “CJ” Medlock Jr., also arrive with a world of talent. That deep group in the backcourt should help deflect some attention away from Fears, though he, of course, will be the key to every opponent’s scouting report.
“I think we got a good group with everybody coming back and bringing in a transfer,” Fears told Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz at the combine.
That transfer, 7-2 center Anton Bonke, also tested the draft process before withdrawing. MSU’s biggest issues will be replacing the steady post play from since-graduated Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper. But Bonke, redshirt sophomore Jesse McCulloch, sophomore Cam Ward and incoming freshmen Ethan Taylor and Julius Avent will give Izzo options in terms of size and style of play.
Speaking of ceilings, both Taylor and Jervis earned spots on the U.S. under-18 national team this week. Kohler and Cooper both had NBA workouts this week: Kohler with the Indiana Pacers and one upcoming with the Utah Jazz, and Cooper with the Golden State Warriors; he also is drawing predraft interest from a few other West Coast teams.
Fears helped elevate both of his departing big men into NBA prospects. His next mission will be to do the same for the next group – and himself.
Come next April, he’ll hope to own more hardware and have refined his game to make the decision to leave MSU a no-brainer with nothing more to prove and the ceiling shattered.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jeremy Fears return gives Tom Izzo and Michigan State final ingredient
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
