The Spartans look to reach the Final Four for the first time in five years.
For the 18th straight season, the Michigan State Spartans have made the NCAA Tournament. Even when they're only a No. 7 seed, like this season, they always seem to be here in the final weekend of March, threatening to make it to the Final Four.
Standing in their way of the regional championship is No. 4 Louisville. The two teams are the survivors of an upset-filled region, with the Spartans taking down the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in consecutive games. On Sunday, one of them will be the lowest-seeded team in this year's Final Four.
Tom Izzo has coached the Spartans for 20 years, only missing the tournament in his first two seasons. It has resulted in six Final Four appearances and a national championship in 2000, but the Spartans haven't been out of their region since 2010. This season, the team is led by two fantastic guards, Travis Trice and Denzel Valentine, who both average more than 14 points and four assists. Trice is an explosive scorer who gets into the lane easier, while Valentine is more of a pure shooter.
Michigan State is deeper than Louisville, but then again, most teams are. The Cardinals weren't a deep team even before starting point guard Chris Jones was kicked off the team, and now rely heavily on Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell to win games.
Rozier isn't incredibly efficient, but he can score 10 points in the blink of an eye and led the Cardinals with 17 points per game this year. Harrell is a projected first-round NBA pick who averaged 16 points and nine rebounds this season. Wayne Blackshear and emerging freshman point guard Quentin Snider are the other two important pieces to this team, but beyond them, Louisville doesn't have a player averaging more than three points a game.
Here's how to watch:
Time: 2:20 p.m. ET on CBS
Place: Syracuse, N.Y.
Online: March Madness Live
Line: Michigan State -2
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/19g1MWg
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