For All the Marbles

University of North Carolina. Michigan State. UNC. Mich St. Tywon Lawson. Kalin Lucas. Tyler Hansbrough. Goran Suton. Wayne Ellington. Raymar Morgan. Danny Green. Delvon Roe. Deon Thompson. Travis Walton.

Here we go folks. This one is for the big one. The Tourny only has one more game left and it is between the Michigan State Spartans out of the Big 10 and the North Carolina Tar Heels out of the ACC. Everyone thought that the Tar Heels would be in this game to start the season but if you were to tell me that the Spartans would be their opponent I probably would have laughed at you. Remember this is the team that has already lost to the Tar Heels by 35 points, and at Ford Field never the less. Although I will not be watching this game (duh) this is how I think it will go down...

At first glance this looks like another blow out for UNC. They have won every game in this tournament by 12 points or more and have only trailed for 2 minutes in their last 3 games. They destroyed Gonzaga. Toyed with Oklahoma. And put a beat down on Villanova. Is Sparty next? Maybe, but then again, maybe not. The last time these two hooked up Michigan State was coming off of three games in four days at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando and were without Goran Suton. Also the first game's attendance was in the 25,000 range. This is the National Championship game. There will be 70,000 plus people at Ford Field and expect at least 40+ thousand to be in Green and White. Another stat that is in Michigan State's favor for this game is their offensive rebounding ability. During the regular season and the Tournament they have been one of the top rebounding teams in the nation. North Carolina will have to limit Michigan State from crashing the boards, something that few teams have done this year. UNC even got out rebounded by a smaller Villanova team in the National Semifinal and this could spell doom for the boys in baby blue. Michigan State has been playing at such a high level in this tournament by beating a hot USC team, the defending champs in Kansas, the overall top seed Louisville and then another #1 seed in UCONN.

All of that said, I can't see Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington going out on a loss in the National Championship game. They are too talented, too fast, too good of shooters, and most importantly, too good of a team. They can run. They can play half court. They can play defense. They can shoot the three. When it comes to this team, it truly is pick your poison. This game will for sure be closer then the 35 point laugher earlier in the season but in the end, Roy Williams and Co will be cutting down the nets in the motor city.