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MSU Lands Baby-Faced Assassin, Dakota Big Fella Ticketed For Big 10
Don’t let the baby face fool you.
Macomb Dakota junior hoop star Thomas Kithier might look young, but he has an old-school game on the basketball court: nothing flashy, just plain old consistently good, gritty, intelligent and efficient. The kind of game the King of the East Lansing cage kingdom, Tom Izzo, loves.
Well, the love affair is mutual.
Kithier, a 6-foot-8 3-star power forward, committed to Michigan State late last week. He is the first pledge for the Spartans’ Class of 2018 recruiting crop.
Last year, Kithier averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds per night for Paul Tocco’s Dakota Cougars, the top team in Macomb County and champions of the MAC Red. Dakota fell in the Class A final four to eventual state-champion Detroit U-D Jesuit and Kithier’s future MSU running mate and point guard Cassius Winston (Mr. Basketball).
He’ll team with his high school floor general, Jermaine Jackson, Jr., another Division I college recruit, to anchor the Dakota attack this winter. Besides MSU, Kithier held scholarship offers from DePaul, Rice, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Detroit and Oakland University.
