Michigan State basketball players and coaches got a nice break from offseason conditioning, workouts, and the Moneyball Pro-Am this week, taking in the end of summer on Lake Michigan with a beach trip, but Tom Izzo and Co. are getting right back to work.

While the season is still a good 2-3 months away from tipoff, there’s an exhibition game against UConn in October to prepare for. And so far, Izzo has liked what he’s seen from his team.

Offseason workouts have been underway so Izzo knows what he’s getting from his guys and he went on the Staudt on Sports podcast earlier this week, according to Michigan State Content on X, and had some interesting things to say about this year’s team.

My favorite quote had to be about the improvement of the returning starters.

Izzo had some other gems from the podcast appearance, but the fact that the four returning players who have starting experience have improved “a lot” is a good sign for the upcoming season. The Spartans need those guys to lead the way because they have the experience in the system and they know what it takes to make a deep run in March.

Jeremy Fears Jr. has received some rave reviews this offseason for his improvement, and he even said that the game is slowing down for him and he’s more confident. Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler need to take a big step in the post, and both looked great at Moneyball. And Carr is, well, a freak who has seemingly added a long-range jumper to his arsenal.

The Hall of Famer also talked about how his program does things right and he’s “more excited” about his team as he gets to see them gel more.

Hearing that the returning starters have improved is a good sign because MSU needs them to take another step if they’re going to replace the lost production from the Big Ten title team.

The season can’t get here soon enough.