The field of 65 for the 2009 Men’s NCAA basketball tournament has been trimmed to the Final Four, the teams who will have a chance to compete for the national title.
Michigan State, Connecticut, North Carolina and Villanova will descend upon the city of Detroit with hopes of emerging as champions.
Here’s a look at each of the match ups and my picks for which teams will prevail and earn a berth in the national title game.
Villanova vs North Carolina
With the dominant performance of the Villanova Wildcats in this year’s tournament, you would expect them to be a No. 1 seed. Instead, they are the lowest seed to be competing in the Final Four thanks to a buzzer beating shot that knocked off top-seeded Pittsburgh in the East Regional finals.
If anyone knows how to confound their opponents, it’s Villanova. During their win over Duke, the Wildcats were able to shut down the perimeter game of the Blue Devils, holding them to 5-of-17 from beyond the three-point line.
When it comes to shutting down the inside lanes, the Wildcats rely upon Dante Cunningham, who’s been averaging 17.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game during the tournament.
The Wildcats will need to maintain their defensive approach when they face the Tar Heels if they hope to advance to the national championship game.
Villanova will have to can keep North Carolina off balance and force the Tar Heels to take outside shots, limiting their interior advantage.
The Wildcats will have to maintain their exceptional free throw shooting as well. During their last two wins, the Wildcats managed to make 41-of-46 attempts, a solid .891 shooting percentage.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are back in the Final Four for the second consecutive season, wanting to make amends after last year’s embarrassing Final Four loss to eventual national champion Kansas.
The Tar Heels have made it back to the Final Four while dominating their opponents. North Carolina easily handled the Oklahoma Sooners in the South Regional finals, earning their fourth double digit victory during the tournament.
North Carolina’s success will depend upon two things: Ty Lawson’s continued solid play and Tyler Hansbrough’s ability to handle Cunningham. Lawson has seemingly gotten better with each game, averaging 20.3 points and 6.6 assists since he returned to action.
Lawson is clearly the key to the Tar Heels success, and if he continues to play well, North Carolina will be tough to beat. Hansbrough was in foul trouble against the Sooners and didn’t produce his usual solid numbers, but look for him to regain form against the Wildcats.
While both teams have been impressive during the tournament, look for the Wildcats to pull the upset and advance to their first national championship game since 1985, the year Villanova won their only NCAA title.
Michigan State vs Connecticut
Despite winning 10 of their last 12 games to end the season and capturing the Big Ten regular season title, no one expected the Michigan State Spartans to advance to the Final Four.
Despite the lack of respect, the Spartans, led by head coach Tom Izzo, knocked off top-seeded Louisville to advance to their fifth Final Four appearance in 14 years.
Now the Spartans have the chance to play in front of the hometown crowd and take on one of the more dominant teams, Connecticut, from the 2008-09 season.
If the Spartans are going to pull off the upset, they will need Gorin Suton to continue his stellar play. In his last two games, Suton has averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
If Suton can hit his mid range shots, it will force Hasheem Thabeet away from the basket and open lanes for the Spartans. In case you haven’t noticed, Michigan State has one of the most underrated players in men’s college basketball, guard Kalin Lucas.
During the final 49 seconds in their victory over Kansas, Lucas scored seven points, including 5-for-5 from the free throw line. If the Spartans can keep this game close in the waning minutes, look for the ball to be in the hands of Lucas.
Connecticut is making their third Final Four appearance and appears to be firing on all cylinders. Even in the wake of the alleged recruiting scandal that made headlines last week, the Huskies never eased up, winning their games by an average of 25 points.
Their lowest margin of victory came against Missouri in the West Regional finals, knocking off the Tigers by seven. Connecticut’s tournament success has been centered around their ability to control the boards.
The Huskies have averaged 45 rebounds per game while their opponents have only been able to pull down 28. This significant advantage has helped the Huskies control the pace of the game from start to finish.
The key to their success is the defense of Hasheem Thabeet, who absolutely dominants the paint, with help from Jeff Adrien. The Huskies will need to have Thabeet stay out of foul trouble so he can keep the inside lanes closed down to the Spartans offensive game plan.
If the Huskies are going to advance to the national championship game, they will need to find a way to force the Spartans to commit turnovers and convert them into points.
This game figures to be a hard fought battle, but look for Michigan State to come out on top and earn the chance to play for the national championship in front of the hometown crowd.
