Duke Blue Devils (5, 139.5) vs Michigan State Spartans
Teddy's initial feeling here is that Duke beats them. Duke is the better team here and did beat the Spartans earlier in the year. Michigan State has 4 wins in the tournament, but all 4 have been by 7 points or less. Michigan State will have issues vs Duke's on ball defense, which is really tough. State will not get many of the open looks that they had vs Louisville.
All the talk has been how good Izzo is as a coach in March and it goes to his experience, which is crucial in the tournament. RJ wonders if Michigan State is overrated because of all the talk about Izzo being a great coach?
Dave feels that the committee did their best in seeding Michigan State. He then discusses defense. The Spartans like to get up an down the court, but Duke get's back on defense better than most teams in the country. They did tat very well vs Kevin Pangos, who is 2nd in the NCAA history in TO to assist ratio and he had zero assists in the game vs Duke. That is because Duke stopped the ball.
That will be an issue for Michigan State in this one.
Could this be an underrated Duke team? Teddy states yes and the pointspreads have backed that up so far in the tourney. They are the most public team around and they are 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games.
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