5. Kalin Lucas vs. 12. Matt McQuaid

Kalin Lucas’ Achilles tendon is perhaps the biggest “what if?” in the Tom Izzo era. Lucas tore his Achilles in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. The Spartans made the Final Four without him, but had he been around, that team EASILY could have won it all. Lucas was great in the run to the national championship game in 2009 and had 21 points and five assists in the Final Four against UCONN. And he was just so damn good before the injury. He was good after, but with that type of injury, things are just never the same. Lucas won Big Ten Player of the Year in 2009 and is looked back upon as one of the best point guards Tom Izzo has ever had.

He takes on Matt McQuaid. Had I told you at the beginning of the 2018-19 season that McQuaid would be in this type of bracket, you would have called me crazy. It’s amazing what a few moments can do. McQuaid was a quality starter on the team that made a run to the Final Four in 2019, but he saved his best moments for the biggest stage. First, he scored 27 points against Michigan in one of the biggest Big Ten Tournament Championship games ever. A few weeks later he threw down one of the nastiest posterizing dunks on Duke’s Javin Delaurier in the Elite Eight and followed that up with a mesmerizing spin-o-rama layup later that game. In one of the biggest wins in MSU history, in a game that featured three lottery picks–one being Zion Williamson–it was Matt McQuaid that had two of the most memorable moments. He’s a Spartan legend for life for that.

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