Kansas State vs Michigan State
The first game up on the docket is 3rd seeded Kansas State taking on Mr. March and the Michigan State Spartans. While the majority of brackets had neither of these teams here, they have both saved their best basketball for the sport's most important month. The Wildcats rolled in Round 1, and rode some unbelievably clutch play from Markquis Nowell in Round 2 to take down Big Blue. The undersized guard took over down the stretch, making threes and creating for his teammates, sending Coach Cal stomping back to Lexington in the process. Calipari continues to prove he is no Tom Izzo, who finds himself in the second weekend yet again. The short and fiery coach is seeking the 9th final four appearance of his incredible career and often leads higher seeded teams on runs that folks aren't as bullish on going into the big dance. The man simply knows how to get his teams playing well when it counts.
This game will be tightly contested throughout, and it is hard to find advantages on either side of the court. Both teams are getting all-important stellar guard play, and have big shot makers to lean on. Sparty likes to slow the game down, and runs a deliberate offense that has a tendency to wear teams down. KSU will want to get out and run a bit more, albeit not much, and will need to try and impose their pace on this game. They also feature the best player on the court, in Florida transfer Keyontae Johnson. His storied comeback from collapsing on the court continues to amaze.
The opening line slightly favored the higher seed, but the money coming in has flipped it to MSU -1.5. Such a tight line is spot on as again, it is tough to find the edge on either side of the court. The one place where there is an edge, is on the sidelines, where Tom Izzo holds the advantage over just about everyone he goes up against. They don’t call Izzo Mr. March for nothin, as he is primed for another tourney run. A win here over an overachieving KSU squad puts him 1 game away from yet another Final 4.
Michigan State -1.5