Whitmer On Toucher & Rich: If Kentucky Is At Their Best, They Will Not Lose
BOSTON (CBS) - We're in store for what should be an exciting Final Four weekend, as a trio of one-seeds and the seventh-seeded Michigan State battle for a spot in the NCAA title game.
To preview all the fun ahead, The Boston Globe's Michael Whitmer joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Friday to discuss the Final Four matchups.
The Kentucky Wildcats improved to 38-0 with a wild win over Notre Dame in the Elite 8. Now they go up against a bigger challenge in the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday night.
Whitmer believes Wisconsin has a good shot at taking down the undefeated Wildcats.
"They met in the Final Four last year and Kentucky beat them. I like Wisconsin; I've always liked them. They're a typical Bo Ryan-coached team," said Whitmer. "They're effective on offense, they play good defense, they don't commit many turnovers and don't hurt themselves. I think at this time of year, if you can limit the mistakes you make and force the other team to beat you, then it puts you in a much better chance to win.
"Now Kentucky might be that team that can beat them. I will keep saying, whatever teams end up beating Kentucky, if it happens, Kentucky won't be at their best for that to happen. You saw it last week with Notre Dame. I thought Notre Dame played very well, but Kentucky was slightly off and credit the Irish for having a hand in that. For Kentucky to lose, they're not going to be at their best. If they're at their best, they will not lose."
The seventh-seeded Michigan State take on the Duke Blue Devils, but Whitmer believes the Spartans are lucky to be where they are.
"They were placed in the bracket that allowed them to do what they've done. They had NC State beating Villanova, so they avoided playing the one seed. Whether or not they could've beaten Villanova remains unknown. Michigan State was placed in the easiest bracket so they took advantage of that. They were the seventh seed but I think people weren't surprised to see them win four games," Whitmer said.
"They're a tough out this time of year. I think the record is a bit skewed because they scheduled tough non-conference games, which gives them a loss of two, three or four. When you're somewhat taking inventory of trying to seed them at the end of the year, their record might not be as good as other teams but they're a very tough team to beat this time of year. I wouldn't be surprised to see Michigan State pull another upset."
Many expected the championship game would come down to Kentucky and Duke. Although Kentucky has been favored to take home the trophy, the road will only get tougher.
"Most of Kentucky's contributors, aside from the Harrison twins and Willie Cauley-Stein, really haven't played at this stage. I think one thing we keep forgetting is that Kentucky is trying to do something that has never been done before. So the closer they get to 40-0, the more pressure there is," Whitmer told Toucher & Rich.
"Whether they feel it or not, I'm not sure on that. Duke's Jahlil Okafor has never been to a Final Four. Now Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) has been to like 12 of them and Tom Izzo has been to like a million of them. I will be very curious to see how it plays out. If Kentucky can beat Wisconsin, now they're a step away of doing something that has never been done. How does that affect them? Do we see any sign of pressure or expectations or anything like that?"
At this point, even with Kentucky's undefeated streak, the trophy seems to be up for grabs with the strong performances lately from the others team still in the tournament.
Listen to full segment below: