Couch: Braden Burke is Tom Izzo's answer to losing Deyonta Davis

As Tom Izzo welcomed the most heralded recruiting class of his Hall of Fame career last October, he knew his roster had a shortcoming it wouldn’t be able to overcome completely.

Deyonta Davis’ early departure for the NBA had caught Izzo off guard and, coupled with injuries to two other big men, left his team dangerously low on size.

“I’ve got to make sure I never get caught that way again,” Izzo lamented before last season began.

Braden Burke is Izzo’s answer to Deyonta Davis. Not a prospect of Davis’ caliber. It doesn’t remedy that exact situation. But it’s meant to help counter one like it, should it occur down the road. Burke, a 6-foot-11 center who played his freshman season at low-major Robert Morris in Pittsburgh, is joining MSU’s program as a preferred walk-on. 

He’s a Michigan kid, a high school star at Stevensville Lakeshore. He is not ready to help MSU now. He can’t even play next season, per NCAA transfer rules. But in time, he might be able to contribute. He might be able to prevent the next earlier-than-expected departure from destabilizing the roster.

More:Michigan State lands transfer Braden Burke from Robert Morris as preferred walk-on

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“He honestly is a very skilled big that over time and with added strength will be a very good player,” one Division I coach, who knows Burke’s game, said. “He can stretch the floor and Izzo will make him tougher and the program will strengthen his weaknesses.”

“As far as a walk-on goes, that’s a heckuva walk-on,” another Division I coach said. “Fairly skilled. Long. Fairly athletic. Not Big Ten on all of those things, but certainly good enough to push people in practice every day and, potentially, if he responds well, push for playing time.”

To win big in college basketball most places, you need roster balance — a mix of high-end talent, upperclass role players, veteran leadership and no crippling holes. 

A kid like Burke, if he develops, at the very least, prevents the crippling hole. He gives MSU a big man it knows will be on its roster through 2021.

Izzo can’t comment publicly on Burke until he enrolls. Burke is under no such NCAA embargo.

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“I’m going to be going up against six other posts who are very skilled and talented,” Burke said Thursday. “Two of them are going to graduate (after next year) for sure (Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter). And then two, Nick (Ward) and (Jaren) Jackson, may have the potential to go in the draft next year. It’s just a really good opportunity for me to develop, be the type of player I want to be. I think a scholarship is definitely in the future. I think I can fit in and find a role there.”

Burke is a self-aware kid, benefiting from a year of reality at Robert Morris. The Colonials play in the low-major Northeast Conference, but played a schedule that included DePaul, Richmond, Kansas State, Oakland, Virginia and Buffalo. 

Burke, who decided he wanted to be closer his home in southwest Michigan, had Division I scholarship offers this spring from Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Ball State, he said, and a host of Division II schools hoping he’d want to play immediately.

“D-IIs kept trying to pull me in with the fact that I didn’t have to sit out a year. But I’m pretty realistic with myself,” Burke said. “I wouldn’t say anything I didn’t think was true. Playing one year as a Division-I player, I need to be stronger. I need to gain strength. A year of fully focusing on that while competing against great competition every day in practice, I don’t think I could be in a better spot to improve for one year than I am right now.”

At Robert Morris last year, he was a part of the regular rotation, averaging 4.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in about 15 minutes per game. In high school, he averaged 19.4 points and 12.2 rebounds as a senior, helping Stevensville Lakeshore to the Class B state championship game.

“He’s very skilled around the basket,” his high school coach, Sean Schroeder, said. “I think he can develop a nice perimeter shot. He catches the ball very well. He can put the ball on the floor a little bit. Very good post moves for his size.”

But, again ...

“He’s got to get a whole lot stronger," Schroeder continued. “That’s the big thing for him. For him to have any success at MSU, he’s got to get a lot stronger.”

Burke says he’s up to 237 pounds and hopes to play as a redshirt sophomore in 2018-19 in the 240s, with considerably more muscle. 

MSU’s coaches brought him in recently to work him out and made him the preferred walk-on offer. For a kid who grew up watching Big Ten hoops and played AAU basketball with Miles Bridges and Cassius Winston, that was enough.

“I really like them. They’re just a special kind of people,” Burke said of Winston and Bridges. “I want to play after college, too. And, eventually, I want to get into coaching. There’s really no one else better I could learn from.

“It’s Division I basketball, but it’s a completely different level. This year I’m going to soak up as much as I can and learn from the best.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.