NCAA Basketball: Mock 2020 NCAA Tournament Final 4 predictions
Matthew Travis – @mjtrav627 and @BlueDevils (popular Duke Blue Devil account)
If Michigan State were to make the Final Four this season it would be the first time the pre-season number one made the Final Four since North Carolina did so in 2015-16. Crazy to think that the Spartans were ranked number one at the beginning of the season after the rollercoaster of a year they had, but it’s true.
The Spartans lost their first game of the season and were 5-3 through eight games, then they went onto win their next eight games before losing six of their next 10 and then winning their last five games, four of which were against ranked teams, for an overall record of 22-9.
Led by Cassius Winston, Michigan State entered the season as a true title contender and they continued to prove that at times throughout the season as well.
For the most part, the Spartans use six main players with a couple filling in minutes here and there. Those six players are Xavier Tillman, Aaron Henry, Rocket Watts, Kyle Ahrens, Cassius Winston and Malik Hall.
A lack of depth has hurt Michigan State at times throughout the season, but it has also been a large part of their success.
So for the sake of this Final Four matchup lets take a look at how these six players would be used:
Chances are Winston, Watts, Henry and Tillman would play just about the entire game while Ahrens and Hall would likely play 15-25 minutes as well. The question is, how would this lineup fare against the No. 1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks?
Kansas had an incredible year, turning their season around after losing their first game of the season due to their 28 turnovers against Duke. After their 0-1 start, the Jayhawks went onto win 28 of their final 30 games.
Kansas had a very impressive season ending the year ranked first in the AP and Coaches Polls and second in the NET Rankings. Their success was thanks in a large part to Udoka Azubuike and Devon Dotson who were both named All-Americans after the season ended.
Like Michigan State, Kansas isn’t a very deep team as they too play six main players and seven overall. This being said, a matchup between Kansas and Michigan State would be one without a whole lot of help off the bench on either side.
This matchup would also be a battle of two of the best duos in the nation, for Kansas, you have Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike and for Michigan State, you have Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman.
Overall, Kansas is a team that finished the season with a 12-3 record against quadrant one opponents and 8-0 against quadrant two opponents. Michigan State, on the other hand, was 9-7 against quadrant one opponents and 5-2 against quadrant two opponents.
That being said, Kansas clearly has the advantage in this matchup and would be the undoubted favorite against the Spartans.