And then there were 16... The Sweet 16 will be upon us in a few days. One of the teams that punched their ticket into the second week of the NCAA Tournament just so happens to be the Michigan State Spartans. While they did not have many issues with North Dakota State or Louisville in the lead-up to it, UConn looms large as a different kind of beast. Simply put, Jeremy Fears Jr. has to play way better.
In his first two NCAA Tournament games of the postseason, Fears shot 2-of-6 from the floor vs. North Dakota State for seven points, and a miserable 3-of-13 from the field vs. Louisville for 12 points. He should be thanking his lucky stars that Carson Cooper bailed him out in the Round of 64, and Coen Carr did the same in the Round of 32. Tom Izzo cannot be thrilled with his best player at all.
Add in the wrinkle that UConn is so hard to score on, averaging only 65.1 points allowed per game, and this could be quite problematic for Izzo. Fears has been averaging 15.3 points per game in his all-conference season. UConn is the higher seed, and is listed as the slight favorite over on FanDuel at -1.5. Clearly, Fears could make all the difference for the Spartans should they advance over UConn.
With Cooper and Carr having already done the heavy lifting for Michigan State, it shall be Fears' turn...
Jeremy Fears Jr. cannot have a third bad tournament game in a row...
While UConn and Michigan State at times flirted with the idea of being a No. 1 seed, neither earned that coming out of their respective conference tournaments. Although Fears has gotten more hype than anyone on the floor for either of these teams thus far, UConn has been the more consistently strong team throughout. Fears can carry this team at times, but he is so overdue for a great showing.
Truth be told, it may take more than just Fears carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders in this one. He will need to be supported by Carr, Cooper, and the rest of Izzo's program. Michigan State has become synonymous with March under Izzo's iconic tenure. However, UConn is the team that wins national titles far more regularly. Hurley has won two more recently than Izzo has even played for one.
At this time, we have reached a critical point with this Michigan State team. While they were able to breeze past North Dakota State in the first round of the tournament, Louisville at least put up a fight. UConn is a Goliath in the sport of college basketball, as big of a blue-blood as Michigan State is or Louisville claims to be... In the end, it will come down to Fears being the one to lead the charge here.
If he cannot make close to 40 percent of his shots, that is going to be problematic for the Spartans.
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