NCAA Bracket 2011: Why Michigan State Will Advance To the Elite Eight

Everyone has been ripping the Spartans this year about their roller coaster season they have had.

They started the year the No. 2 ranked team in the country, a lot of returning players from a team that advanced to the Final Four a year ago and hall of fame coach Tom Izzo at the controls once again.

The season didn't turn out the way many experts predicted the way it would.

Granted, they played without a doubt one of the top five toughest non-conference schedules in the country, with games against Connecticut, Syracuse, Duke, Texas and Washington (1-4 in these games).

During the conference season, they had a very down year, losing to arch rival Michigan twice—which almost never happens—losing to Iowa by over 20 points and barely beating Indiana (84-83 in OT).

However, they silenced doubters by crushing Purdue 74-56 in the Big Ten Tournament, but then lost convincingly to Penn State the next day. Not to take anything away from Penn State, but it's tough to go from beating one of the elite teams in the Big Ten to being flat against a bubble team.

On top of that, they lost Korey Lucious for the year when he violated team rules, which teams never really bother getting into detail about.

Now, Michigan State has been to the Final Four six out of the past 12 years, so it's not like success in the tournament is anything new for them. They just seem to find that sense of urgency when it comes to the tournament and play like there's no tomorrow.

Coach Tom Izzo, who undoubtedly will be heading to the hall of fame when his career is over, seems to find that magic in his teams every year. He does where they are maybe favored to win it all (1999-2000 year when they won the National Championship) or other years like 2005 and last year, when his teams were in the middle of the pack as far as tournament teams are considered.

Now, this year they have essentially all of their core players back (with the exception of Raymar Morgan), so why are they underperforming?

Well, even though this may be the worst team Izzo has coached to the tournament, he still may pull off some of his March Magic, and why?

First things first is that they have all their players back from last year's tournament except for two (Morgan and Lucious), so the talent is there, it just hasn't been really revealed. The teams that they would play in the tournament are all beatable (UCLA, Florida, St. Johns/BYU) and they match up with all of them.

Believe it or not, the point guard, Kalin Lucas, was the Big Ten Player of the Year two years ago and he seems to always shine when the spotlight is on.

Now looking at the matchups round-by-round, this is why State gets to at least the Elite Eight.

First Round (UCLA):

The Bruins are coming from the Pac-10, who once again is coming off a down year sending only three teams to the tournament.

The Bruins have had times struggling from the line late in games, which isn't good for the tournament because that is one of the factors that makes or breaks teams in the tournament.

They also are on sort of downward trend after taking a beating from inferior Oregon in the Pac-10 Tournament (54-70); Michigan State will exploit this and outlast the Bruins, showing their endurance at the end of the game.

Second Round (Florida):

The Gators have returned to where they were a couple years ago where they won back-to-back National Championships, but there are still many questions surrounding them.

They come from the SEC, which many experts say isn't really a strong conference. People around the country are questioning whether the Gators are worthy of a No. 2 seed because they haven't been the most dominating team this year like a Kansas or Ohio State.

They also have a history of playing very "flat" in the tournament. If Sparty can keep it close, then I feel tournament experience and endurance will take them to the Sweet Sixteen.

Third Round (St. Johns/BYU):

Well, now we know BYU has Jimmer Fredette, but who else do they have?

Their top big man was booted off the team for not living a true and chaste life (some school BYU is).

If you double Fredette the entire game, you take BYU out of their game and I don't really expect them making it past the second round.

St. Johns, this year's coming out team; filled with athleticism, experience and a new coach in Steve Lavin.

St. Johns has many key wins this year over Connecticut, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Duke, which has propelled the Red Storm to a No. 6 seed.

Where do they falter? Experience and the pressure of playing in a high stakes game.

Granted, they play at Madison Square Garden nine times a year and have beaten the likes of Duke, but who's to say they play the same way when they're faced with a win or go home scenario.

Against a team like Michigan State, who has been far in the tournament before and knows what it takes to win in March, I feel that the clock will strike midnight on St. John's cinderella year come the time they play State.

Now in the Elite Eight, who knows the Spartans could ride this momentum right through Pittsburgh (who I'm predicting will be here) or they have one of their flat games, where Pittsburgh just runs them out of the gym.

Will Michigan State even be here? One can't be sure, but the Spartans have all the tools and the right matchups to make another one of their tournament runs.