Valparaiso guard Brandon Wood is going to finish his college basketball career at Michigan State. Wood is going to be a redshirt senior this fall and is going to graduate this month from Valparaiso University. Originally Wood had declared for the 2011 NBA Draft, but he is going to withdraw his name and return for one more year.
There is an NCAA rule that allows players who graduate from one school to immediately be eligible to play at another school. Usually players who transfer have to sit out a year before they can play, but by graduating and enrolling in a program not offered at his original school, Wood will be able to suit up for Michigan State in the 2011-12 season. Essentially the Spartans are getting a talented, one-year recruit, except this recruit has played college basketball for three seasons.
Wood averaged 16.7 points per game at Valpo last season. He also averaged 4.3 rebounds per game and 3.1 assists. In 2009-10, Wood averaged 17.7 points per game, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He sat out the 2008-09 season after transferring from Southern Illinois, where has only played in 11.3 minutes per game as a freshman (at Valpo he averaged nearly 32 minutes a game).
Michigan State will be Wood's third different school, but he showed at Valpo he can play. With MSU losing Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers, Chris Allen and Korie Lucious in the past year for a variety of reasons (graduation for the first two and being dismissed for the last two), adding Wood is a nice get. He should be able to take some of the pressure off the younger, inexperienced guards since he has played college basketball for three seasons.
It's not often you get a veteran player added to your team like this, but I'm sure Tom Izzo will make the most of Wood's one year at MSU.