Oklahoma Sooners Ready to Face Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans in EPIC Battle of Two Great Tournament Head Coaches

Oklahoma Sooners Ready to Face Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans in EPIC Battle of Two Great Tournament Head Coaches Time Life Warner Arena Charlotte,

Oklahoma Sooners Ready to Face Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans in EPIC Battle of Two Great Tournament Head Coaches

Time Life Warner Arena

Charlotte, NC

When the horn sounded in the Oklahoma Sooners and they had disposed of Dayton 72-66 their attention immediately turned to the Michigan State Spartans. It should.

This time of year all the attention of the nation turns to the Spartans and head coach Tom Izzo, but don’t overlook the Sooners. Head Coach Lon Krueger is a a highly successful coach in his own right and the Sooners aren’t a pushover. Krueger is the ONLY active coach to take four different schools to the Sweet 16. A phenomenal accomplishment for one of the most underrated head coaches in all of college basketball. He said of the achievement, “It obviously doesn't make a lot of difference in people's lives. Certainly won't in mind. But it means we've had a lot of good players, a lot of good programs and certainly proud of this group.”

Looking ahead to the Spartans Krueger said, “We're going to play who is there. And we know it's going to be tough. When you get to the Sweet 16, everyone deserves to be there. They've gotten there for a reason. Obviously Michigan State is a terrific program and Tom does a great job and they've got that NCAA success culture. And our guys respect that. They know that the seeds really don't mean anything. It will be a big-time battle, and we'll have to play really well to have a chance to win.”

For the Sooners (24-10) a lot rests on their ability to play smart team basketball. Buddy Hield is a great player, (current Big 12 Player of the year) but he falls in love with his shot. When teams play tight defense rather than involve his teammates more by taking the double team and hitting the open man, he can take bad shots. That bodes well for a Spartan team that doesn’t like playing defense; they embrace it and revel in it.

Sophomore guard Jordan Woodard said of the Spartans, “I feel like they're a great defensive team, well-coached team, and they play solid. I feel like it's going to be a good challenge for us. But we've got to come out and play our ball no matter who we're playing, Michigan State or Virginia. We've just got to play the best ball we can play.”

Sr. forward TaShawn Thomas was impressed with how the Spartans took advantage of opportunities against the Cavaliers. “I just seen a lot of energy. Michigan State playing with a lot of energy. And they kind of took advantage away from Virginia. And I feel like if we let them do that, they'll probably do the same thing. So we have to make sure that we stay together as a team and just keep fighting with each other.”

Of the 68 NCAA tournament teams the Sooners are 11th in blocks and free throw percentage. That is something that certainly will have the Spartans paying attention to the scouting report. Their Achilles heel is shooting percentage where they rank 53rd out of the field. Something mentioned earlier with Hield and something the Spartans can take advantage of.

For now the Spartans are favored by 2 points, but we all know that doesn’t matter. These teams also played in 1999 when the ">Spartans Mateen Cleaves and the Sooners Najera had an epic collision.

When this the game tips off just after 10 PM on Friday America will be glued to TBS to watch to legendary NCAA tournament coaches’ battle it out.