This past week, East Lansing got a little more populated—and a lot more popular. In a matter of four days, two college basketball standouts transferred to Michigan State. Perhaps even more stunning than the closeness in time of the two transfers, both were ironically in close contact with fellow friends from Michigan State throughout their divided decision-making processes. By the sounds of it, their bags were already packed.

First it was Eron Harris of West Virginia, a sharpshooter good enough to be dubbed an international phone call because this kid dials in from long distance. Said Michigan State’s basketball coach (a.k.a. unofficial mayor) Tom Izzo, Harris has proven to be “one of the best shooters in the country.” As a sophomore last season, Harris put up 17 points a game against a jerky-tough schedule from the Midwest. Wait, are we sure we’re not talking about GARY Harris?

“Me and Gary Jr. had some talks,” Eron said, referring to the non-related Gary, who—get this—also came from Indianapolis, is the same age, went to Michigan State last year, also averaged 17 per game last year, also was considered one of the best three-point shooters in the country, has a father that went to college with Eron’s father, and is now suiting up for the NBA Draft this summer as Eron distantly follows in his footsteps. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Harris will have to sit out next season, giving him two years of eligibility starting in 2015-16.
A mere four days after Harris broke headlines, when it seemed the Spartans’ shooting couldn’t be any sharper, they swiped through a sharpener as 6’3” Cleveland State guard Bryn Forbes swiped his pen through paperwork, making his transfer official. See, this was less of a transfer for Cleveland State’s leading scorer and more of a return home. Growing up in Lansing, naturally bleeding green, Forbes was always a Spartan at heart.

Basically a more athletic clone of senior Spartans guard Travis Trice, Forbes made his name as an outside threat alongside versatile Spartans swingman Denzel Valentine at Lansing Sexton High School, in which they won back-to-back state championships in 2011 and 2012. The camaraderie he built with Valentine on the court made it so tough to part ways yet so luring to come home.

“They’re like my second family,” Forbes said of the Valentines, including former Sexton coach Carlton, Denzel’s father, and MSU graduate assistant Drew, Denzel’s older brother. “If I wasn’t at home, I was over there (at their house). Coach V’s been my coach since I’ve been 7. Denzel’s been my best friend since I’ve been 7.”

The championship-level chemistry on the perimeter that has been in town for years has been renewed after a year of parting ways. As it is well known in Michigan, Michigan State’s Breslin Center has been home to the high school state championship games every year. It’s quite ironic now that instead of fighting together in March to get to the Breslin, they’ll be fighting to get as far away from it as they can with Final Four ambitions in sight.

By that time, both Forbes and Harris will have been practically adopted by Izzo and relentlessly trained with the Spartan family for a full year, but, of course, will have had to sit out all the games due to the transfer rule. That’s not to say Forbes doesn’t have the possibility of getting a waiver that would allow early eligibility—something the Detroit Free Press reported as possible—due to Cleveland State coach Gary Waters’ claim that Forbes was looking to transfer for “personal reasons.”

It’s very believable, given that he’s coming home, but it’s known very well what the obvious reasons are. That judgment lies in the hands of the NCAA at this point.

“I knew this was the place I wanted to be, especially with the family responsibilities I have to fulfill,” Forbes said. “That’s important to me, so I feel like this is the right decision.”

“Family responsibilities.” Now that’s a quote the NCAA can hear, whisper back and forth about, while Izzo gives Forbes a low five under the table.

By next summer, Trice and fellow senior Branden Dawson will be off with their diplomas, presumably pursuing professional basketball somewhere. What will be crossing paths with them on the way out are fresh, highly-touted 18-year old replacements. As of now, it’ll be two freshmen, one a center from Muskegon, Deyonta Davis, who ESPN ranked as a five-star player, and Kyle Ahrens, a three-star small forward.
Davis, a 6’9” presence inside, has been rumored to be able to stretch out his wingspan and simultaneously dip hands in both Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. (Okay, his wingspan’s 7’1”.) He has the same raw, athletic, shot-blocking skillset that Adreian Payne possessed coming in as a freshman, the multi-faceted big man the Spartans will be without for the first time in four years this year.

Ahrens, the other future Spartan who actually made Izzo go “nuts” when he committed, will provide depth at the forward spot as Dawson departs the gargantuan shoes that will be left to refill.

If there’s one thing to take away from the new initiation of Spartans this past week, it’s that even amidst the coming and going of seniors and a sophomore star, what remains the same is a reputation that draws in schools’ best players, fully aware of transfer rules, for the sake of stocking up for long-term success.

Or, as waiver seekers should say, for, um, family matters.