UConn-Michigan State: 2009 Men's NCAA Tournament Final Four Picks

Hopefully you've had a chance to check out our site—The Sports Chat Place—where we've been doing College Hoops Picks Against the Spread all season. There are five of us from The Sports Chat Place who also write on B/R: Ryan, Mitch, Dave, Shaun, and Steve.

For the NCAA Tournament, we decided to put together a few articles with all of our picks for the various rounds. We've received a lot of positive feedback from these, so we're going to continue the whole way through!

In case you haven't seen the other articles, the idea is that everyone picks the game against the spread and is allowed to write one or two sentences explaining why.

The Sports Chat Place has only been up and running since the end of January (at the time it was called The College Basketball Place). We have been very happy with how many hits we've been getting this season, especially during the tournament. At the start of the NCAA Tournament we had just over 500,000 hits—we now have 725,000.

If you enjoy what you read here, I encourage you to go check out the site! College hoops may be coming to a close for the season, but that doesn't mean that we're shutting our doors! We have just launched the NASCAR portion of The Sports Chat Place, and we will soon have the MLB, NFL, and Fantasy Football up and running (as well as having The College Football Place fully integrated).

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NCAA Tournament Final Four

Saturday, April 4, 2009

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No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 2 Michigan State
6:07 PM ET

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
No. 2 Michigan State	30-6	15-3	19-12-1	6	6	71.8	62.7
No. 1 Connecticut	31-4	15-3	16-14	8	29	78.5	63.7

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 2 Michigan State	45.3	41.4	35.8	31.6	69.7	42.1	6.6	16.1	13.9	2.8
No. 1 Connecticut	47.5	37.6	34.1	30.4	68.0	46.0	5.8	16.0	12.6	7.8

Line: UConn -4.0

Mitch: MSU +4.0—The Spartans are simply the tougher team and have more heart.
Dave: MSU +4.0—Suton is playing well inside and out. Spartans have home-state mojo.
Ryan: UConn -4.0—Spartans get the in-state, D-Town edge, but Calhoun keeps the Huskies focused for the 5-8 point win.
Shaun: UConn -4.0—The Huskies are on a mission and not even playing "on the road" will stop them.
Steve: UConn -4.0—In a game that will be a defensive slugfest from the opening tip, the Huskies are a little bit better along the front line because of Hasheem Thabeet, and a little bit better in the back court because of A.J. Price. UConn will cover...but just by a little.

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If you enjoyed these picks, please check out The Sports Chat Place!