B/R Expert NCAA Bracket Picks 2015: Final Four Predictions

In just a few days, a new national champion will be crowned, "One Shining Moment" will be played, and the 2014-15 NCAA men's basketball season will officially be in the books.

And we're getting one heck of a Final Four to send another great campaign off into the sunset.

It's a Final Four so great that we had to bring Bleacher Report's college basketball experts back together to offer up their predictions for the games on Saturday night.

Duke versus Michigan State. Kentucky versus Wisconsin. Who ya got?

Here's who we're taking.

Matchup: No. 1 seed Duke vs. No. 7 seed Michigan State

Details: Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET (TBS)

Breakdown 

Based on the way everyone is drooling over the game between Kentucky and Wisconsin, Duke versus Michigan State barely seems like an appetizer to the main course—the undercard for Manny Pacquiao versus Floyd Mayweather Jr., if you will.

But you better believe this game between two college basketball titans will be packing quite the punch.

The $64,000 question is: What can Michigan State do to slow down Jahlil Okafor? Duke's big man had 17 points on just 10 field-goal attempts when these two squared off back in November.

More recently, Michigan State has been a bit hit-or-miss against quality big men. Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky and Nigel Hayes combined for 45 points against the Spartans on March 1 and another 44 points on March 15. Louisville's Montrezl Harrell got whatever he wanted early in the Elite Eight game, scoring 12 points in the first 11 minutes.

Elsa/Getty Images

However, Harrell was held without a field goal for the next 34 minutes. And Michigan State limited Purdue's A.J. Hammons to just seven points on 12 field-goal attempts less than one month ago.

Tom Izzo's platoon of Matt Costello and Gavin Schilling at the center position has shown an ability to slow down above-average opponents, albeit not consistently.

The big key is that they have 10 combined fouls to give, and they haven't been afraid to use them. Costello and Schilling have averaged 8.0 personal fouls per game in the tournament, doing whatever it takes to keep the opposition from getting easy buckets.

As has been the case all tournament against Duke, though, slowing down Okafor is merely step one. There's still the not-so-minor issue of containing Justise Winslow, turning over Tyus Jones and hoping Quinn Cook doesn't drain half a dozen three-pointers.

And while it's nice that Costello and Schilling have been willing and able to commit more fouls than one man alone, that benefit eventually becomes a detriment as slashers get to the free-throw line repeatedly. Through four games, Michigan State's opponents have averaged 18.3 points per game from the charity stripe, accounting for 29.8 percent of the points those teams have scored.

Fouling Okafor (51.1 percent free-throw shooter) isn't a bad strategy at all, but sending Jones (88.8 percent) and Cook (88.7 percent) to the line is a great way to get blown out.

For the Spartans to win, they have to be selectively physical, and they need some combination of Travis Trice, Bryn Forbes and Denzel Valentine to get hot from three-point range—which is perfectly feasible since they shoot a combined 40.2 percent from deep and average 6.7 triples per game. But if basically anything else happens, the Blue Devils should advance to the title game.

Predictions:

C.J. Moore: Duke

Jason King: Duke

Kerry Miller: Duke

Matchup: No. 1 seed Kentucky vs. No. 1 seed Wisconsin

Details: Saturday at 8:49 p.m. ET (TBS)

Breakdown 

It's the rematch we've all been waiting for. Wisconsin versus Kentucky in the national semifinals, part two. The best offense of the past decade against the best defense of the past decade. The goofy guys from Madison against the businessmen from Lexington.

The quest for redemption against the quest for perfection.

So, who guards whom?

Wisconsin will look to spread the floor, neutralizing Kentucky's height by pulling its biggest men away from the lane. If the Wildcats don't extend to the perimeter to defend Nigel Hayes, Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky, three of the best three-point shooting big men in the country will eviscerate Kentucky with triples.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports thinks Wisconsin's unstoppable force is better than Kentucky's immovable object, writing, "In a sentence: The Badgers are better with the ball than Kentucky is without it."

Harry How/Getty Images

But while we rave about Wisconsin's ability to play on the perimeter, let's not act like Kentucky's big men will look like fish out of water in trying to defend the Badgers.

Willie Cauley-Stein has no range whatsoever on offense, but he has the height, hands, feet and quickness to stay with Kaminsky on defense and figures to be shadowing him as often as possible. And both Karl-Anthony Towns and Trey Lyles were billed as big men with three-point range before they arrived on campus, so they aren't exactly unfamiliar with the idea of playing 20 feet from the hoop.

And if Dekker and Hayes decide instead to try to do their damage in the paint, they'll have their work cut out for them against Kentucky's mountainous frontcourt.

The bigger X-factor is how Wisconsin plans to slow down Kentucky's big men.

Arizona scored almost at will in the paint against Wisconsin, shooting 22-of-37 inside the arc—even though all four of its primary big men dealt with foul trouble. If Brandon Ashley could score 17 points in 21 minutes against Wisconsin, dare we ask the limit for how much damage Towns could do?

Dekker is an absolute stud on offense, but he defends in the paint about as well as you might expect a guy who grew two inches over the summer and suddenly became more of a stretch 4 than a shooting guard. In all likelihood, Kaminsky will be on Towns and Dekker will be on Cauley-Stein, because it's far less likely Cauley-Stein serves as a focal point of Kentucky's offensive attack.

Either way, there's no question the weakness in this battle is Wisconsin's defense—an odd thing to say after complaining about the Badgers' boring, low-scoring, defensive style of play in recent decades. It's just a question of whether Wisconsin can be efficient enough on offense to outscore Kentucky.

Considering we're talking about one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball history, we're definitely not ruling out that possibility.

Predictions:

C.J. Moore: Kentucky

Jason King: Wisconsin

Kerry Miller: Kentucky

Analysis written by Kerry Miller.

All advanced stats provided by KenPom.com unless otherwise noted.