USC vs Michigan State

Written by Jay Horne

usc-michigan-state-ncaa-tournament-predictions-032109 The road to the sweet sixteen heats up this Sunday when a red hot 10 seed in the USC Trojans takes the floor with 2 seed Michigan State in Minneapolis. Michigan State is one of the highest praised teams in the stacked bracket of the Midwest. The Spartans defeated Robert Morris 77-62 in the opening round to advance. They will take on an emerging Trojans team that has now won 6 straight wins including an overwhelming convincing win over Boston College by a score of 72-55. The Trojans emerged from out of nowhere to win the Pac-10 Tournament Title and now are poised to and pull off a big upset over the Spartans and keep the momentum alive. Taking a look at the NCAA basketball odds for Sunday’s game, the Michigan State Spartans are favored by 4 points over USC.

Michigan State handled their first round match-up with Robert Morris just as well as any of the other number 2 seeds in the tournament. The Spartans dominated the boards out rebounding Robert Morris 43-25. Raymar Morgan and Draymond Green both scored 16 points in the winning effort while Kalin Lucas added 13 as well. The Spartans rebounding has been a big success this year ranking inside the top 30 teams in the country. Goran Suton pulled down an impressive 17 rebounds which was the most of any individual player in the opening round. The Spartans ability to dominate the glass could be the difference in slowing down a hot USC team.

If it were not for USC catching fire in the Pac-10 tournament they might not have even been selected into the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans were standing at an 18-12 mark following the regular season and had lost 6 of their last 9 games. However, timing can be everything in sports and that is definitely the scenario playing out for the Trojans. USC come from a 5 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament to steal their first ever Pac-10 Tourny Title in history. The breakout performance guaranteed the Trojans a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but still many people doubted their play would continue. However the Trojans completely dominated a solid Boston College team from the ACC and they appear to be really peaking at just the right time.

Michigan State may have the toughest road of any number 2 seed in the entire NCAA Tournament. The Spartans will get the winner of defending champs Kansas or Dayton if they can manage to pull out the victory over USC not to mention Louisville is still looming in the top half of the bracket. Still the Spartans have looked good and have really been strong in their road games this year which relates to the NCAA Tournament games since nobody plays at home. Michigan State is 9-1 in road games this season and their strong defense makes them a tough team in March. However, it will be interesting to see how they handle USC this Sunday.

The Trojans had a stellar shooting effort in their big win over Boston College. Taj Gibson did not miss a shot from the floor the entire night going 10-10 in terms of field goal shooting which led to a team high 24 points in the winning effort. Gibson only missed shot come on a free throw attempt, but the junior forward still went 4 for 5 from the stripe. Dwight Lewis and DeMar DeRozan added another 38 points as these 3 standouts combined for more points than the entire Boston College team. The Trojans will need these 3 guys to stay hot as they can not afford any let down performances in their match with Michigan State if there is to be any truth for a second straight upset.

Pick - Take USC + 4

Comments

One Response to “USC vs Michigan State”

egar gomesz on March 23rd, 2009 8:36 AM

hello would like to know they think of the game Davison who believe that you kept the money eh

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