The Big East and Big Ten champs will collide in Phoenix on Thursday night for the second of the Sweet 16 encounters, and we are set to make our Michigan State Spartans vs. Louisville Cardinals picks for the second game on tap.

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #4 Louisville Cardinals vs. #1 Michigan State Spartans
West Region Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 7:45 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. Syracuse Television Coverage: TBS

Key #1: Someone needs to stop Draymond Green
Simply put, Green is a monster. He is capable of going off for a triple-double every single time that he steps on the court, just as he did against the Long Island Blackbirds in the first game of this tournament. This is a man that personifies Michigan State basketball. He just does everything that needs to be done to put his team in a position to win games. Green averaged 16.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game this year, and we are really struggling to find someone that can really guard him in this Louisville lineup. We tend to think that Gorgui Dieng is going to be too slow to keep up with the shifty forward, and pretty much anyone else that tries to guard Green is going to be a bit undersized. It really isn’t a comfortable position for the Cards to be in, but it is a situation that the rest of the teams in the Big Ten have been dealing with for the last four years. Green is the one guy on the court on either side that can win this game by himself.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Louisville Cardinals +5
Michigan State Spartans -5
Over/Under 125
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Louisville can’t lose its cool down the stretch
We have seen the Cardinals play two very close games here in the dance, and there were a number of tight encounters in the Big East Tournament as well. This is a team that really has to be careful though, as it doesn’t have the greatest history in the close games here in the dance. Just look at what the Morehead State Eagles were able to do to the Cardinals last year. It is clear that this is going to be a close game throughout in all likelihood, and the pressure can’t get to this Louisville team. We know that Michigan State has won some tight contests both at home and on the road this year, and with Green on the court, there is going to be no shortage of confidence and leadership on the Michigan State sidelines. Someone has to do that as well for Louisville in what amounts to probably be its toughest game of the year.

Key #3: Foul shooting can’t be the death for either of these teams
The winner of this game might be the team that ends up shooting the ball better from the charity stripe. It really isn’t often that a team can make a deep run in the dance without being a decent foul shooting team, and we know that neither of these squads meet that mold. The Cardinals only shoot 68.7 percent from the line as a team, while the Spartans are just at 69.5 percent. There isn’t a foul shooter on MSU’s roster that shot 80 percent, but we do know that both Green and Keith Appling are going to likely knock down the clutch shots when it is really needed. Kyle Kuric, Russ Smith, and Chris Smith are all at least 75 percent free throw shooters, but if they get into foul trouble themselves and don’t have the ball in their hands, the rest of this Louisville team is absolutely atrocious on free throws.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

Our Sweet 16 predictions kick off on Thursday night in the East Region, where the Syracuse Orange and the Wisconsin Badgers duke it out for the right to go to the Elite 8. Check out our Syracuse vs. Wisconsin keys to the game!

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #4 Wisconsin Badgers vs. #1 Syracuse Orange
East Region Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 7:15 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. Syracuse Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: The Badgers have to keep the pace of this game down
We know that Syracuse isn’t going to be all that interested in running this game into the 70s against the Badgers, but it knows that it is going to want to try to get into offensive sets in a hurry to try to avoid settling in against that ferocious Wisconsin defense. These Badgers are simply awesome in transition defense, and there are very few cheap baskets that they allow. The Orange shoot the ball well at 46.6 percent from the floor, but this is a Wisconsin ‘D’ that is holding teams down to just 52.9 points per game and 38.5 percent shooting from the field and 28.8 percent from beyond the arc. The pace has to stay slow though, as the Badgers don’t have the offense to be able to put up 70-75 points against this stout defense, so it is imperative to try to limit the number of possessions in this game.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Wisconsin Badgers +3.5
Syracuse Orange -3.5
Over/Under 120.5
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: The Badgers can’t get three point happy
Syracuse has a great perimeter defense, and the way that it is eventually probably going to get beaten in this tournament is by a team that is able to pound the paint and the heart of that patented 2-3 zone, where Fab Melo is no longer standing due to his eligibility concerns. In the dance, Wisconsin has already jacked up a whopping 52 three-point shots, and that just isn’t going to be good enough against a team like this in all likelihood. The Orange have lanky defenders that can really be a pain to the Badgers who are trying to pick up points three at a time instead of two. Sure, if those shots are falling, it’s fantastic. However, it’s really hard against the 2-3 zone to shake loose and get open looks at threes, and if the Badgers just start chucking up contested long range shots, they’re going to get embarrassed in this clash.

Key #3: Syracuse has to keep the Wisconsin bigs off of the glass
We know that Wisconsin is going to take a lot of those long range shots that we mentioned before, and if Head Coach Jim Boeheim has to have a concern, it is about how his team hits the glass. The Kansas State Wildcats had a whopping 22 offensive rebounds against the Orange in the Round of 32, and though the game did end up with a bit of a lopsided score, there has to be a concern that KSU was able to get up 22 more shots than Syracuse did. Without Melo there to clean up the glass, there just aren’t that many players that have the ability to be dynamos on the boards, and if the Badgers are getting second chance buckets, they are going to be able to pull off the upset.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.