SAGINAW - Three-time National Coach of the Year and ace recruiter Tom Izzo fell victim to his own success Tuesday, watching leading scorer Jason Richardson announce his plans to forego his junior and senior seasons and declare for the NBA Draft.
“I really think that I’m ready,” Richardson said of his future to a crowd of mostly media and family here at Victorious Believers Ministries. “From all the people coach Izzo and my uncle have talked to, I feel pretty confident that I will be a lottery pick.”
Richardson, 20, cited personal goals and family, including his nine-month-old daughter Jaela, as reasons for pursuing a professional career.
He will stay in school through the end of the semester, and said Tuesday he plans to earn a degree eventually.
The 6-foot-6 guard credited the advice he received from his mother, Elaine Richardson-Cook, as the determining factor in his choice to leave school.
“I went to church Sunday and the theme of the sermon was about the windows of opportunity being open,” Richardson-Cook said. “I talked to him about what happened that day and told him that it was now the time for him to reach his goals.”
The news, which comes more than a week after MSU’s 80-61 loss to Arizona in the Final Four, will be followed today by freshman center Zach Randolph’s decision about testing the professional waters.
Randolph will hold a press conference at St. Paul Baptist Church in his hometown of Marion, Ind.
Izzo, who has been rumored to be courted by the Detroit Pistons, said he will return as head coach next season despite the loss of both key players.
He also denied any rumors of freshman guard Marcus Taylor and redshirt freshman forward Adam Wolfe looking to transfer to different schools.
“I’m staying put,” said Izzo, who supports both players’ decisions and will be by Randolph’s side today. “I believe it will be a new challenge next season to respond to the adversity of not having two of our best players. This program has faced adversity before and people should not count us out next season.”
Richardson and Randolph, both McDonald’s High School All-Americans, can return to MSU and play next season if they don’t sign with an agent, and remove their name from the draft-eligible list by June 20. The draft is June 27 in New York.
MSU - which returns seven players from last season - has two scholarships available and could possibly add to its 2001 recruiting class during the NCAA late-signing period.
Alan Anderson of Minneapolis, Kelvin Torbert of Flint and Chris Hill of Indianapolis all signed with the Spartans last fall.
Izzo, who can’t comment specifically on individual unsigned recruits due to NCAA rules, said he and his coaching staff will go on a “nationwide search” to evaluate the available talent.
“There’s no question that we are going to have to evaluate talent to see if there are any players that can fit our needs,” Izzo said. “It will be a challenge and we definitely have a lot of work ahead of us.
“We won’t look for just the best players available, we want to fill the needs we have on this team. There’s a possibility that we might not sign anyone else this year.”
Eric Lacy can be reached at lacyeric@msu.edu.
