Fresh off of an epic upset, the Northern Iowa Panthers look to add a smaller upset to their collection as they face the Michigan State Spartans in Friday, March 26, 2010 March Madness betting action.
The Spartans are 1.5-point March Madness line favorites and the over/under is 121.
The fifth-seeded Michigan State Spartans would have been much heavier favorites if not for the loss of their star guard Kalin Lucas. Lucas ruptured his ACL after landing awkwardly on a jump shot in their second round game against Maryland and will miss the rest of the tournament.
With Lucas out, the Spartans lead evaporated and they needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to eliminate fourth seeded Maryland.
Michigan State’s fortunes depend largely on how they adjust to playing without Lucas and makes predicting this game very difficult.
The Northern Iowa Panthers sent many brackets to the recycling bin by unseating the tournament’s number one overall seed, Kansas.
The ninth-seeded Panthers put their second best defense in the nation on display against Kansas pressuring them everywhere. They pulled ahead by as much as 12 points and then withstood a late-game charge to win 69-67.
The Panthers now hope their defense can fluster the Spartans as they adjust to playing without Lucas. They have a pretty good chance at an upset if they can force enough turnovers.
The Spartans will likely emphasize defense more too without Lucas and they’ll be looking to force some more turnovers on defense while looking after the ball on offense and controlling the game.
I'm a basketball fan from Vancouver, Canada. Losing the Grizzlies was bitter-sweet. They sucked balls, so I never really started supporting them, but now I only get to catch games on TV.