March Madness - Michigan State Upsets Louisville in the Midwest Regional Final

By Ally White

The two-times NCAA Champion, the Michigan State Spartans surprised everyone by beating one of the favorites and the No.1 spot, the Louisville Cardinals, in the Elite 8 and Midwest Regional Final with an score of 64-52, this past Sunday. Nobody, not even the analysts, thought that after the Cardinals were playing so amazingly and shooting with a high percentage during the majority of the tournament, the Spartans could fight them that easily and could overcome their quickness and toughness in every part of the game. However, it has to be mentioned that Coach Tom Izzo made a great plan for the game and showed great confidence in all of his players, having as a result the victory and the trip to the Final Four in Detroit.

The game started balanced for both teams, but as the minutes were passing by, with Louisville not executing good and Michigan overcoming great shots and having an amazing defense, the Cardinals were falling down and losing their confidence. One of the best figures for the Spartans was the big guy of 6-10 ft Goran Sutton from Bosnia, who scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half, shooting incredibly from outside making 3 of 3 three-pointers and breaking the confidence of Lousville players into pieces. However, Sutton was criticized during the season for not showing enough toughness, but he demonstrated that he was one of the toughest in the court against Louisville. Moreover, even though the Cardinals were shooting poorly in the first half, the game ended with a score at half time of 30-27 in favor of Michigan.

During the second half, both teams made adjustments, especially the Cardinals who tried to cover Sutton in the high post; however, when they closed Sutton, the rest of the Spartans began to shoot effectively, becoming a nightmare for Louisville since his defense was broken and their poor execution in the offense wasn’t helping either. The Cardinals shot just 38% from the field and was outrebounded by Michigan 37-29. The starting five of Louisville made together just 32 points and only two players had double figures, which was very disappointing for a team that was scoring 85.3 points per game and shooting at least 49% in the last three games of the NCAA tournament.

But for all this we have to give credit to the Spartans and their coach Tom Izzo, who had a great game plan and which was execute by his players incredibly well. Coach Izzo expressed he was really proud of his team and what they have accomplished this year without putting aside that their hard work has paid out at the end. This is the fifth time in 11 years that Michigan State gets to the Final Four.

It was as big a win as our school has had because we're going to Detroit," expressed Coach Izzo. "That's been a dream and a goal since the day they announced where the Final Four was in 2009."

Now is time to wait for the semifinals that will be held on April 4th, in where Michigan State will face UConn and North Carolina will play against Villanova. We hope to see excitement and great basketball in this Final Four 2009, the best of the lucks for the best four college basketball teams in the country.

About the Author

Ally White is a top senior copy writer on NCAA Basketball and sports action for the online sports betting: http://www.instantactionsports.com. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.