Last Thursday, there were 17 teams ready to lace up their sneakers and take on the eastern region. A week and some change later, there are two teams that will battle it out for forty minutes for a precious spot in the Final Four.
Louisville beat North Carolina State Friday night to move on to the Elite Eight. Michigan State defeated Oklahoma in the late game on Friday. Now both teams will face off on Sunday, as one will represent the east region of the NCAA tournament.
2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight Preview: East Region
#4 Louisville v. #7 Michigan State — March 28th, 2:20pm (CBS)
It’s a broken record by now: Ever since the Chris Jones dismissal, Louisville has played a lot better. Whether those two things correlate is hard to tell, and really impossible to measure. Freshman guard Quentin Snider has stepped into Jones’ shoes, and he’s played well by adding more spacing to the floor with less turnovers. Terry Rozier — a Wooden Award candidate — now has more space to drive to the rim, and wingman Wayne Blackshear can run behind the defense with collapsing defenders. We can’t forget about Montrezl Harrell, though. He is the engine to the Cardinals overall game, and is one of the strongest players in college basketball. Head coach Rick Pitino has finally got all the pieces running together, and it’s made for a great postseason run.
Michigan State has a bit of a broken record, too by now: March is Tom Izzo’s month, and he has led the Spartans to another Elite Eight appearance, their seventh in eight years. The year didn’t always look all fine and dandy, though. This certainly isn’t Izzo’s most talented squad, and it showed with bad losses to teams such as Nebraska, Texas Southern, and Minnesota. The Spartans started an uptrend in the middle of March, and have won six of their last seven games, only losing to Final Four bound Wisconsin. Senior leaders Travis Trice and Branden Dawson have raised their games to a new level in the tournament, and so has the Spartan defense. What was considered a weakness weeks ago has turned into a strength, and it showed in the second half of Friday’s win over Oklahoma. The Sooners went cold, but mostly because of Michigan State’s defensive pressure.
The game itself should be an interesting one. Michigan State has been subpar against the press, but Louisville hasn’t been a heavy-pressing team since Jones was dismissed. We’ll have to see what Pitino decides to do. Expect Dawson to be matched up with Harrell, which could be one of the more entertaining matchups to watch. Denzel Valentine has to limit his turnovers versus any Louisville pressure; likewise for Snider against Michigan State’s defense. This game could come down to two of the more enigmatic guards in the country in Rozier and Trice. Both players take some ridiculous shots, and makes them, and whoever is more capable on that afternoon could be the difference.
It’s a hard game to pick, but Michigan State will find a way to will themselves to another Final Four. The Spartans will pack the paint and see if Louisville can hit their three-pointers, something that has been a weakness for the Cardinals. The Spartan’s offensive will come within the offense, but look for sixth-man guard Bryn Forbes to have a big day shooting the ball. He’s one player Louisville doesn’t have a great matchup for. Expect the game to finish in the forties or fifties.
Prediction: Michigan State Spartans
