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Purdue vs. Michigan St.
3/8/09
The college basketball season is winding down to a close and the NCAA Tournament is rapidly approaching as we get closer and closer to the March 19th.
Even though all anyone is talking about is the ACC and Big East conferences there are some pretty good teams out there that have gone relatively unnoticed this season. They may get respect in the Top 25 polls, but they dont make headlines like UConn, North Carolina and Pittsburgh have this year.
Two of the good teams that you havent really heard much about this season are the Purdue Boilermakers and Tom Izzos Michigan State Spartans. No other teams in the Big Ten Conference this season have made as much of an impact than these two teams, except for the Fighting Illini who have been solid with the 23rd ranking in the country and a 23-8 record, but they havent been able to hang with the Big Ten leading Spartans. They did however beat the Boilermakers twice this season.
Although there is still one more Game against the second place Boilermakers, Izzos Spartans have wrapped up the Big Ten title as they are three Games ahead of Purdue and have already clinched the Conference title in the Big Ten. The only thing really at stake here is confidence going into the Big Ten Tourney and the Big Dance. If the Boilermakers can pull off the unlikely upset of the number eighth ranked Spartans, then they will have some much needed confidence going into both these Tournaments.
The Spartans on the other hand will just be trying to remain on top of their Game. Purdue may be coming off a disappointing loss to Northwestern, but Michigan State comes into this Game riding a Four Game win streak all against Conference opponents with their last loss ironically being against the Boilermakers back on February 17th at Purdue.
This time the two teams will meet on the Spartans home floor where they have only lost twice this season to Northwestern, who just beat Purdue, and North Carolina.
Although Spartans have won Games this season as a collective effort with five players averaging almost ten points a Game all season long, the key to avenging their lost to Purdue back in February will be the play of the teams leading scorer Kevin LUcas who is putting a little over 14 points a contest.
Even though Purdue was able to convincingly beat the Spartans a little less than a month ago 72-54, I see this Game turning out differently. Michigan State did seem to struggle in their last Game against the lowly Indiana Hoosiers only beating the last place team in the Big Ten by five points, but you better believe Tom Izzo will have his players ready to face a tough Purdue team on Sunday.
The Boilermakers could definitely pull off the upset here, but the Spartans will be way too motivated to let that happen this close to the Big Dance. This will be a big statement Game for both teams, but I see the Spartans winning their last Game of the season against Purdue. Bet 5dimes.com has Michigan State favored by -5.5 with a total of 128.5
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