When the news of Korie Lucious being dismissed from the Michigan State basketball team was announced on Tuesday, six key words in the school’s official statement seemed to be "for the remainder of the season." One interpretation of those words could be that Lucious would have a chance to return to the team for his senior season. Another might be that final decisions would be made by coach Tom Izzo and the MSU athletic department later on.
But Lucious and his family may have already reached a decision of their own. Lucious’ mother, Latonia Guider, told SpartanNation.com that he will transfer from the MSU basketball program.
"I love my son dearly. We certainly didn’t want his career at MSU to end this way, but we thank all of you for your prayers and thoughts. Korie will finish the semester at Michigan State and Coach Izzo has said he will help Korie find a new school. We are grateful to God for Coach Izzo and Michigan State. My son has admitted he made mistakes. I ask that people remember him and judge him not just by mistakes, but by the man I believe him to be, and that he will grow into."
Wednesday morning, Lucious told the Lansing State Journal’s Joe Rexrode, "I still don’t know what I’m gonna do." But maybe Lucious just didn’t want to say what his decision was at that moment (while he was in class). Or perhaps he didn’t know that his mother was going to give the news later in the day.
As Sean mentioned in the original post of this StoryStream, it’s already been a rough season for Lucious with suspensions and injuries. If his athletic career at MSU is indeed over, this is certainly an ignominious ending for him.
In Sunday’s New York Times, Izzo said that he was already planning to push Kalin Lucas more as he gets healthier. Perhaps that means MSU will shorten its rotation and restrict backup point guard duties to Keith Appling through the rest of the season.
SB Nation’s Michigan State blog, The Only Colors, has more on what the Spartans will do in light of this development and who will likely get more playing time in Lucious’ absence.