NCAA Tournament Final Four Preview: #1 Connecticut vs #2 Michigan State

There is arguably no greater sporting event than College Basketball’s Final Four. The history of the event with great games, coaches and players go back to when the first NCAA tournament was played in 1939.

Last year’s epic was Kansas erasing a 9-point deficit in the final two minutes to send the game with Memphis into overtime. The Jayhawks won, 75-68.

There have not been a lot of memorable moments from the 2009 tournaments. However, the games that we remember will be Siena over Ohio State in double overtime in the first round, Oklahoma State scoring with seven seconds to play to beat Tennessee in the first round and of course Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds layup with 0.5 seconds to play to beat Pittsburgh in the East Regional Final.

Now, the journey has come to its final stop at Detroit’s Ford Field.

You have Michigan State, a team that comes home to play. Then there is Connecticut that has managed to get beyond the allegations of an illegal recruiting scandal with a former player.

Villanova is the Cinderella because while the Wildcats are good, few really expected them to be here. North Carolina rounds out the four. The favorites to win the tournament have made it and have two more steps to take in order to capture the title.

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National Semifinal No.1

No. 1 Connecticut (31-4) vs. No. 2 Michigan State (30-6)

Time/Day/TV: 6:07 EDT/Saturday/CBS

Connecticut Road to the Final Four: D. No. 16 Chattanooga, 103-47 D. No. 9 Texas A&M, 92-66 D. No. 5 Purdue, 72-60 D. No. 3 Missouri, 82-75

Michigan State Road to the Final Four: D. No. 15 Robert Morris, 77-62 D. No. 10 USC, 74-69 D. No. 3 Kansas, 67-62 D. No. 1 Louisville, 64-52

Connecticut Final Four Appearances: 3

Connecticut Leading Scorers: A.J. Price 14.7, Jeff Adrien 13.7, Hasheem Thabeet 13.5

Connecticut Stat You Need to Know: The Huskies are 4-0 in Final Four games.

Michigan State Final Four Appearances: 7

Michigan State Leading Scorers: Kalin Lucas 14.6, Raymar Morgan 10.2, Goran Suton 10.1

Michigan State Stat You Need to Know: The Spartans are 9-0 all-time as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Key Matchup: Michigan State guard Travis Walton vs. Connecticut point guard Price: Walton, the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year, has always drawn the opposing team’s most dynamic scorer. He has shut most of them down. Against Louisville’s Terrence Williams, Walton held Williams to 1-of-7 shooting. If Walton can disrupt Price’s ability to penetrate, it would take a lot away from Connecticut’s offense.

Who Wins and Why: Connecticut. Michigan State can absolutely win this game. Suton was terrific at the Midwest Regional last week in Indianapolis. The Spartans controlled the tempo and frustrated two open floor teams in Kansas and Louisville. But Connecticut can play at a slower and win. See the win over Purdue. Thabeet can control a lot of things in the middle of the floor by altering and blocking shots. Suton must get him away from the basket. However, there are too many scoring options the Huskies have and the Spartans can’t cover all of them.

Kevin Lonnquist
BigEast-fans.com Staff Writer

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