What to expect from Final Four teams

No. 5 Butler

Solid in every way, Butler will have to maintain its tough-minded approach in the Final Four, where it is sure to be the underdog yet again.

Playing Michigan State, the Bulldogs will see a larger team with more tournament experience.

It wouldn’t be the first time. Kansas State had double-digit scorers in Curtis Kelly and
Jamar Samuels. It didn’t matter. Gordon Hayward out-rebounded them both with 9 boards.

Butler earned its spot in the Final Four on the perimeter. The Bulldogs slowed the explosive Wildcats with defense on guards Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente.

Michigan State’s Raymar Morgan and Durrell Summers will need similar attention.
Morgan and Summers will require more hampering on the inside, though. Shelvin Mack and Willie Veasley have to play big to contain.

No. 5 Michigan State

No Kalin Lucas, no problem.

Michigan State finished off Tennessee in the Elite Eight with big free throws from lone senior starter Raymar Morgan. And who could forget the pass from the large, yet smooth, Draymond Green?

The contest was an example of what has worked well for the Spartans all tournament.

They play to defend, they play within themselves and they win.

Coach Tom Izzo’s team has won every one of its NCAA tournament contests by seven points or less, with three of the four games being separated by less than three points when the final buzzer sounded.

The Spartans’ key to continue a tournament run with their best player out with injury is to keep games close.

Michigan State’s experience is enough to win in late-game situations if it can grind it out to the end. Butler, a team with its own gritty style, will play a game on par with what would allow Michigan State to use its experience in the final seconds for another
win.

No. 2 West Virginia

Long and athletic, West Virginia is the final representative of a league — the Big East — touted as the country’s best from the season’s start.

The Mountaineers beat Kentucky, the team thought to be the country’s best, to reach the Final Four in Indianapolis.

They are without starting point guard Darryl Bryant but have called on Joe Mazzulla, a former starter and star to steady the team in the backcourt.

So far, he's responded.

The guard averaged two points per game in the regular season, but he managed 17 against Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

Da’Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones are sure to be ready for a matchup with Duke.

Whether they continue on to the championship game will weigh largely on Mazzulla’s play.

No. 1 Duke

“The Big Three” for Duke has played as such — Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer each average more than 17 points per game.

The Blue Devils faced the easiest road of any No. 1 seed and are coincidently the only one remaining.

Regardless of which teams they played, though, Duke proved something.

Against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the first round, Duke played to a 73-44 blowout win the way a high seed should.

Against a speedy California team, it spread the floor and had quick feet on defense.

Then the Blue Devils beat Purdue, a team everyone had counted out, 70-57 in a scrappy exchange that was a basketball purist’s dream — if you like good defense and horrible shooting.

This Duke team’s versatility might lead it to the championship game.