Two of college basketball's most well-known coaches face off in the Final Four on Saturday.
Tom Izzo and Mike Krzyzewski face off in a classic coaching battle Saturday when the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils take on the No. 7 Michigan State Spartans in the first Final Four game Saturday from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Duke has been a force to be reckoned with in the NCAA Tournament so far because it has played its best defense of the year -- the Blue Devils were No. 80 in KenPom.com's adjusted defensive efficiency on Selection Sunday and have since ascended to No. 18 in the country -- and because forward Justise Winslow has possibly been the best player in the tournament to date.
On the flipside, superstar freshman Jahlil Okafor is on a bit of a cold streak. The presumed No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, Okafor struggled in the last two rounds, scoring a combined 15 points on 7-of-16 shooting against Utah and Gonzaga. Okafor remains a fearsome presence in the post, but the Blue Devils will need him to find his shooting groove again if they hope to lift the trophy this year.
Michigan State's season-high winning streak before the tournament started was four games. They've now matched that over the first two weeks of the NCAA Tournament on the back of point guard Travis Trice, sending Izzo to his seventh Final Four in 20 years as the Spartans' coach.
Trice has been on fire in the tournament, averaging 19.7 points per game and knocking down 11-of-27 three-point attempts. Denzel Valentine has been another key player for the Spartans, scoring 18 points against Oklahoma and chipping 15 points in Michigan State's dramatic overtime win over Louisville. Both players got hot at the exact right time of the season, carrying the Spartans from a bubble team in February all the way to the Final Four.
Izzo coached against Coach K in his first Final Four appearance in 1999, and the Blue Devils won, 68-62, behind Elton Brand's 18 points and 15 rebounds. Krzyzewski is 2-1 against Izzo in NCAA Tournament games.
No. 1 Duke Blue Devils vs. No. 7 Michigan State Spartans
Time: 6:09 p.m. ET
TV: TBS
Streaming: March Madness Live website and mobile app
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