Michigan State vs Louisville: Elite 8 Odds & Picks
Written March 29, 2009 by Jay Horne
A Final Four appearance may have been an intangible feeling for the Eight teams remaining in the big dance just a mere two weeks ago before the NCAA Tournament began. However, only one game is left for either Michigan State or Louisville to make the prestigious trip to the Final Four in Detroit, Michigan. The Louisville Cardinals are the tournament’s overall number one seed and are coming off a blowout victory over Arizona in the sweet sixteen 103-64. The Cardinals are one of the four tops seeds who are still in the tournament. Last season all four number one seeds made the Final Four for the first time in history, but Michigan State will be trying to make sure that does not happen again in 2009. The Spartans may have had the toughest road of any team to get to where they are at in the tournament. Michigan State defeated two very solid teams in USC and Kansas in route to the Elite Eight. The Spartans will be trying to pull of the big win to make it back to the Final Four for the 5th team in the last 11 years. Looking at the NCAA basketball lines for Sunday, Louisville is favored by 7 points over Michigan State and the total for the game is set for 138 points.
Michigan State may have been one of the top seeded teams that were expected to slip up during the NCAA Tournament. However, the Spartans have looked solid throughout their stay and backed that up with a convincing win over the defending National Champions Kansas 67-62. The Spartans will battle the Cardinals for the right to go to Detroit. Together these two teams are 19-1 in both of their last 10 games combined and have been among the hottest teams in the country for the 2nd half of the season. Michigan State has been very strong on the defensive side of the court holding teams to only 63 points per game. The Spartans also rank number 1 in America holding opponents to 27 rebounds per game for the year. Michigan State will battle another tough defensive team that is Louisville in a game that could see the scoring stay relatively low. Kalin Lucas has stood out on the offensive side of the court for the Spartans averaging 14.7 points per game which leads the team. Lucas posted 18 points in the victory over Kansas on Friday. Other important factors in the game could come from Raymar Morgan or Goran Suton. Suton knocked down 20 points against Kansas as the big man in the middle and Morgan has poised the ability to post big numbers all season.
Louisville has been red hot through the 2nd half of the season winning their last 13 games that resulted in two different Big East titles. The Cardinals completely dominated Arizona on Friday posting a tournament high 103 points. Louisville also shut down the Wildcats on defense winning by 39 points to advance to the Elite Eight. Last season Louisville was knocked out of the Elite Eight by North Carolina, but will be trying to win the game this year that would put them in the Final Four. The Cardinals have been strong on both ends of the court, but seem to pose big problems for opposing offenses. Louisville has held opponents to only 61 points this season which is rather impressive coming out of the high scoring conference that is the Big East. Louisville will likely be in a grudge match type battle when they take court with the Spartans this Sunday. The Cardinals offense has been led by the play of Earl Clark who is averaging 14 points per game along with 9 rebounds. Clark also led the Cardinals with 19 points in the victory over Arizona. Terrence Williams and Samardo Samuels have also been stellar on offense this season and both players posted 14 points against Arizona. These 3 players have been the main threats all season for the Louisville scoring attack and will try to come up with strong showings this Sunday to earn their 2nd trip to the Final Four under Coach Rick Pitino.
Pick – Take Louisville -7
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One Response to “Michigan State vs Louisville: Elite 8 Odds & Picks”
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michigan state is going to win bitches
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