Michigan State 70, Tennessee 69

Michigan State returns to Final Four...again

By NANCY ARMOUR (AP) – 25 minutes ago

ST. LOUIS — Don't bet against Tom Izzo and Michigan State this time of year.

Raymar Morgan's free throw with less than 2 seconds left gave the Spartans a 70-69 victory over Tennessee in the Midwest Regional final Sunday, sending Michigan State to its sixth Final Four in 12 years and second in a row.

No team in the country — not North Carolina, not Kentucky, not UCLA — has done it better during that span. And all six trips have come under Izzo, the hard-nosed coach who preaches defense, rebounding and physical play.

"I like it more than I used to," Izzo said of playing in March. "It's even better than I thought."

Oh, and how's this for some symmetry? This happens to be the 10th anniversary of the "Flintstones," the team that gave Michigan State its second national title. Highlights from that run were included in the video montage of past championships that played on the Edward Jones Dome's massive Jumbotron during halftime.

The fifth-seeded Spartans, last year's national runner-up, will be looking for championship No. 3 next weekend in Indianapolis. They play Butler, also a No. 5 seed and sure to be the hometown favorite, in the semifinals Saturday night.

The Spartans (28-8) led by as many as eight in the second half, but Brian Williams pulled sixth-seeded Tennessee (28-9) within 69-68 on a putback with 2:10 left. Korie Lucious, who took over as point guard after 2009 Big Ten player of the year Kalin Lucas ruptured his Achilles' tendon last weekend, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 29 seconds left and Scotty Hopson got the rebound.

Hopson was fouled at the other end, and made the first. But after a Michigan State timeout, he missed the second and Lucious — generously listed at 5-foot-11 — ended up with the rebound.

Draymond Green fed the ball inside to Morgan, who got hacked by J.P. Prince with 1.8 seconds left. Morgan made the first and, after timeouts by both teams, missed the second — on purpose. Williams came up with the rebound but Prince fumbled the inbounds pass and had to heave up a prayer just before the buzzer.

"It's just tough, 1 second," Prince said. "You want to shoot it perfect but you've got to rush. You don't want it to come down to a half-court shot, but that's what it came down to."

Prince wasn't even close, and Michigan State and its fans — led by Spartan-in-chief Magic Johnson — began what's become a traditional postgame celebration.

"I'm not surprised," Johnson said. "Tom Izzo does his best in the NCAA tournament."

Hard to argue with that.

Izzo, who took over from longtime mentor Jud Heathcote for the 1995-96 season, is 6-1 in the regional finals. The only loss was to top-seeded Texas in 2003.

Michigan State is the only team from last year's Final Four to make it back. Heck, North Carolina, which demolished the Spartans in the title game, didn't even make the NCAA tournament. Neither did Connecticut, and Villanova was knocked out in the second round.

"There is nothing greater than going to a Final Four that I know of," Izzo said, "except winning it."

And while it's hard to beat that title in 2000, this might be the finest coaching job Izzo has done. In addition to losing Lucas, Delvon Roe is playing on a torn meniscus and Chris Allen has an aching foot. The Spartans have been forced to go to an offense-by-committee, led by Durrell Summers.

Summers, who played just 9 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, finished with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Morgan and Green added 13 each, and Morgan also had 10 rebounds.

Tennessee, meanwhile, will have to take comfort in knowing it got further than any other Volunteers team. This was their first appearance in the regional finals, and there is no question they belonged. They made their first six shots of the game — going 4 for 4 from 3-point range, shot 51 percent overall and had four players in double figures, led by senior Wayne Chism's 13 points.

Prince finished with 12 on 5-of-5 shooting, and Williams had 11.

Tennessee has long been a basketball powerhouse — in women's hoops. But coach Bruce Pearl has energized the men's program, as evidenced by the orange-hued dome and the Vols' first appearance in the regional final. Few would have thought the Tennessee men would last longer than the top-seeded women, who were beaten by No. 4 Baylor on Saturday in the regional semifinals.

"We came to St. Louis expecting to win two games and we played pretty well both nights," Pearl said. "We saw all that orange out there. This isn't close to home, either. They got in their car and they drove here. I think they enjoyed this group tremendously."

Though they were going against a program that oozes experience — "Final Fours are a big thing in this program," Green said Saturday — the Vols came in with swagger and strut.

Chism's 3-pointer put them up 50-45 with 15:46 left and prompted another roar from the thousands of Tennessee fans who had made the trek north. But come tournament time, the Spartans simply find a way to get it done. Cranking up the in-your-jersey defense that makes Big Ten opponents shudder, they held the Vols without a field goal for the next 7 1/2 minutes while ripping off a 14-1 run.

Chris Allen made a 3, and Summers converted a three-point play after being fouled on a jumper just inside the line. After Williams' free throw, Morgan scored on a layup and Lucious hit a 3-pointer to put the Spartans up 56-51 with 12:25 to play.

As a timeout was called, Lucious held up his right hand toward the Michigan State section as if to say, "Bring it on."

Green then converted another three-point play, giving the Spartans a 59-51 lead, the largest of the game, with 11:42 to play.

But the Volunteers had one more run in them. Bobby Maze scored on a layup — Tennessee's first field goal since 15:46 — and Williams followed with two jumpers to put the Vols back on top, 62-61, setting up the frenetic finish.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

BoBA 2010 ISML Predictions: Aquamarine Match Day 4

ARENA 01: [Asahina Mikuru] Ikaros by >= 700
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 02: [Hirasawa Yui] Saber by <= 800
Over/Under: 5500
Under

ARENA 03: [C.C.] Hiiragi Tsukasa by >=600
Over/Under: 5400
Under

ARENA 04: [Furukawa Nagisa] Okazaki Ushio by >=1000
Over/Under: 4700
Over

ARENA 05: [Aisaka Taiga] Nakano Azusa by >=800
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 06: [Akiyama Mio] Sengoku Nadeko by <=900
Over/Under: 5000
Over

ARENA 07: Holo [Shana] by >=900
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 08: [Maria] Konjiki no Yami by >=900
Over/Under:  5300
Under

ARENA 09: Fukuji Mihoko [Saginomiya Isumi] by >=1000
Over/Under:  5300
Under

ARENA 10: [Nagato Yuki] Sakurano Kurimu by <=1000
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 11: [Suzumiya Haruhi] Fate Testarossa by >=700
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 12: [Fujibayashi Kyō] Sakagami Tomoyo by <=800
Over/Under: 5100
Over

ARENA 13: Louise Vallière [Takamachi Nanoha] by >=1000
Over/Under: 5400
Under

ARENA 14: [Hiiragi Kagami] Sanzen'in Nagi by <=900
Over/Under: 5100
Over

ARENA 15: [Sunohara Mei] Shiina Minatsu by >=800
Over/Under: 5300
Under

ARENA 16: [Senjōgahara Hitagi] Shiina Mafuyu by >=900
Over/Under: 5400
Under

ARENA 17: [Kawashima Ami] Minami Chiaki by >=800
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 18: [Ichinose Kotomi] Furude Hanyū by <=1000
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 19: Tōsaka Rin [Katsura Hinagiku] by <=1000
Over/Under: 4900
Over

ARENA 20: Haramura Nodoka [Kushieda Minori] by >=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over

ARENA 21: [Furude Rika] Fujibayashi Ryō by <=900
Over/Under: 5200
Under

ARENA 22: [Hirasawa Ui] Illyasviel von Einzbern by >=1000
Over/Under: 5300
Under

ARENA 23: Akaba Chizuru [Saten Ruiko] by <=1000
Over/Under: 5400
Under

ARENA 24: [Ibuki Fūko] Nymph by >=700
Over/Under: 5100
Over

ARENA 25: [Misaka Mikoto] Izumi Konata by >=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over

Special Match

ARENA 26: Tabitha [Hecate] by <=500
Over/Under: 3500
Under

West Virginia 73, Kentucky 66

WVU headed to Final Four
Mountaineers methodically conquer Kentucky, 73-66
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
The Associated Press

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - West Virginia's basketball players were ready for biggest game of their still young lives Saturday night when they began the short jog from the tunnel inside the Carrier Dome to the floor. The pep band played their song. The fans sprang suddenly to their feet and cheered. Jonnie West was first to squeak his sneakers across the floor. Then came Cam Payne.

And that was it.

"Once we saw Jonnie and Cam go out there, we stopped to see how far they'd go before they noticed," said point guard Joe Mazzulla, who with teammate Cam Thoroughman orchestrated this Elite Eight prank.

West and Payne eventually realized it and Mazzulla and Thoroughman led the rest of the laughing Mountaineers toward tipoff against Kentucky.

"That wasn't very nice," West would say later, "but that shows who we are. We're loose. Everyone stays loose before the game and even during it, but when we get in the games, we have a killer mentality and it's going to wear you down."

After wondering for most of the season if they'd ever figure out who they are, the Mountaineers have for the entire month mastered their identity, cemented an approach and insisted their way would cut it.

And now they're cutting down nets.

In the only matchup of a region's top two seeds in this NCAA Tournament, No. 2 seed WVU defeated No. 1 seed Kentucky, 73-66, before a crowd of 22,497. The Mountaineers advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1959 when West's father, Jerry, was a junior.

WVU (31-6) plays the winner of the South Region championship game between No. 1 seed Duke and No. 3 Seed Baylor Saturday in Indianapolis.

"We win games because of our tempo," senior Da'Sean Butler said. "We don't do well going up and down the court with other people. We're not a fast break team. If we control the tempo, nine times out of 10 we win that game."

Ten times in the past 10 games, WVU been funny before and then ferocious within and won each with discipline on offense and determination on defense. Noted for man-to-man throughout the season, the Mountaineers played a 1-3-1 zone for the majority of the game. The Wildcats (35-3) shot 34.3 percent for the game, missed their first 20 3-point attempts on the way to 4-for-32 shooting and had 16 turnovers that led to 19 WVU points.

"It was pretty tough," said Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall. "They're a long, athletic team. They did a great job denying us getting to the wings and we weren't making shots. I think if we would have made shots, it would have spread them out. Hats off for them. Their defense did a great job on us."

Wall was 7-for-18 and banked in a 3-pointer after missing four others. He added five assists, but also five turnovers and five fouls in what is likely his last college game. Shooting guard Eric Bledsoe, who was 8-for-9 from 3-point range in the first round, was 0-for-5 and had seven points. Guard Darnell Dodson was 2-for-9 from 3-point range.

WVU caused problems inside, too, and center DeMarcus Cousins had 15 points and eight rebounds, but also five turnovers. He was often made to deal with Mazzulla at the bottom of the zone.

"At one point he looked and me and said, 'Are you serious?'" Mazzulla said. "I said, 'Yeah, I'm serious. You're going to have to punch me in the face to get me off you.'"

The Mountaineers turned a two-point halftime lead into a nine-point advantage early in the second half and built it to 11 points when Mazzulla drove for an open layup when Cousins walked back up the court on defense. The margin grew to be as large as 16 points and WVU felt they had the Wildcats, who start three freshmen and a sophomore and have two sophomores and a freshman in their rotation.

"They outplayed us," Kentucky Coach John Calipari said. "I think there were times that the inexperience hurt us. Understanding you're not going to catch it all at once. Knowing that this is the guy we have to stop and then you lose him. There were things that happened. And I think their veterans - especially Mazzulla - were good. He got some layups that were back-breaking. He just played so well and ran their team."

Mazzulla played a season-high 30 minutes and scored a career-high 17 points. He also made his first 3-pointer since Nov. 28, 2008. Butler had 18 points and made four 3-pointers. Kevin Jones added 13 points and eight rebounds and Devin Ebanks had 12 points and seven rebounds.

The Mountaineers were 10-for-23 from 3-point range and 8-for-15 in the first half. They were also 0-for-16 from 2-point range and outrebounded 29-16. WVU shot 57.1 percent in the second half and outrebounded the Wildcats by one.

"We're not as good in the first half as we are in the second because people get tired of chasing it," said Coach Bob Huggins, who returns to the Final Four after appearing there in 1992. "They get tired of chasing it. They get tired of being screened. They get tired of chasing those curls. We got nothing at the rim in the first half. We got a lot of things at the rim in the second half."

The game unfolded not only in the fashion predicted by the Mountaineers, who believed their grinding style could trump Kentucky's talent, but also by Cornell Coach Steve Donahue.

"I think there are a lot of positives about Kentucky," Donahue said after Thursday's Sweet Sixteen loss to the Wildcats. "My concern is that I don't necessarily think for 40 minutes that they may be able to handle this against a team like us that's a little more longer and athletic with experience the next game. West Virginia is terrific."

The Mountaineers were in their third regional final and first since 2005, when they lost in overtime to Louisville. The team has broken every huddle in practice and before games this season by reminding one another they want to be national champs. Not since WVU lost to Cal 71-70 in the final in 1959 has the school been as close. The team that's 8-0 in this state this year will play Saturday in Hoosier State, where WVU is 0-2 with losses to Purdue and Notre Dame.

"The first day I was there I told them I came back to win a national championship," Huggins said. "I came back to win it for the university, having played there and for the great people in our state. And it's going to take a lot of work. And I said this many times, the wonderful thing about these guys is they never doubt. They never ask why. They never kind of bucked it. They just said, 'OK, that's what we have to do. We're going to go do it.' And they've done it and done with it great enthusiasm and great vigor. And they deserve all the credit for it. They're really good guys."

Butler 63, Kansas State 56

THE ROAD WINDS HOME
Bulldogs shock Kansas State as their miracle run continues
By David Woods, Indianapolis Star
Posted: March 28, 2010


SALT LAKE CITY -- Restrained and corporate-looking as he is, Brad Stevens finally let his guard down.

On the bus ride home from the airport a week ago, Butler's basketball team passed Lucas Oil Stadium. Wouldn't it be something, the coach told wife Tracy, if the Bulldogs played there in the Final Four?

"That hit a little bit," he said. "That was the first time I even thought about it."

Now, that's almost all anyone in Indianapolis will be thinking about. Home-grown Gordon Hayward, who led Brownsburg High School to a state title, has taken his act to a larger stage.

Hayward scored eight of his 22 points in the closing six minutes, and Butler knocked off Kansas State 63-56 Saturday in the NCAA West Regional final.

No. 5 seed Butler (32-4) will play in a national semifinal next Saturday against the winner of today's Midwest Regional final between Michigan State and Tennessee at St. Louis.

In running its winning streak to 24 and going farther in the NCAA Tournament than ever before, Butler became the smallest school (enrollment: 4,200) in the Final Four since seeding was introduced in 1979. Butler will be the first team to play in a Final Four in its home city since champion UCLA in 1972.

By the way, Butler is 15-0 in Indy.

"Our dreams definitely didn't stop at getting to the Final Four," said Hayward, voted outstanding player of the West Regional. "We want to win the whole thing."

The Bulldogs' defense was so suffocating that they held No. 1 seed Syracuse and No. 2 seed Kansas State (29-8) to season lows and a collective 46 points under their averages. Butler is 19-0 when holding opponents under 60 points, and Kansas State fell to 2-5 when scoring fewer than 70.

Wildcat guards Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen, who totaled 53 points in a Thursday's double-overtime win over Xavier, were limited to 32 on 11-of-30 shooting. Pullen, shadowed by an omnipresent Ronald Nored, scored 14 points -- 12 under his tourney average.

Hayward's nine rebounds led the outsized Bulldogs to a 41-29 edge in that category, compensating for 20 turnovers. Butler's Shelvin Mack scored 16 points and joined Hayward on the all-regional team.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Restrained and corporate-looking as he is, Brad Stevens finally let his guard down.

On the bus ride home from the airport a week ago, Butler's basketball team passed Lucas Oil Stadium. Wouldn't it be something, the coach told wife Tracy, if the Bulldogs played there in the Final Four?
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"That hit a little bit," he said. "That was the first time I even thought about it."

Now, that's almost all anyone in Indianapolis will be thinking about. Home-grown Gordon Hayward, who led Brownsburg High School to a state title, has taken his act to a larger stage.

Hayward scored eight of his 22 points in the closing six minutes, and Butler knocked off Kansas State 63-56 Saturday in the NCAA West Regional final.

No. 5 seed Butler (32-4) will play in a national semifinal next Saturday against the winner of today's Midwest Regional final between Michigan State and Tennessee at St. Louis.

In running its winning streak to 24 and going farther in the NCAA Tournament than ever before, Butler became the smallest school (enrollment: 4,200) in the Final Four since seeding was introduced in 1979. Butler will be the first team to play in a Final Four in its home city since champion UCLA in 1972.

By the way, Butler is 15-0 in Indy.

"Our dreams definitely didn't stop at getting to the Final Four," said Hayward, voted outstanding player of the West Regional. "We want to win the whole thing."

The Bulldogs' defense was so suffocating that they held No. 1 seed Syracuse and No. 2 seed Kansas State (29-8) to season lows and a collective 46 points under their averages. Butler is 19-0 when holding opponents under 60 points, and Kansas State fell to 2-5 when scoring fewer than 70.

Wildcat guards Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen, who totaled 53 points in a Thursday's double-overtime win over Xavier, were limited to 32 on 11-of-30 shooting. Pullen, shadowed by an omnipresent Ronald Nored, scored 14 points -- 12 under his tourney average.

Hayward's nine rebounds led the outsized Bulldogs to a 41-29 edge in that category, compensating for 20 turnovers. Butler's Shelvin Mack scored 16 points and joined Hayward on the all-regional team.

Although Butler often has been compared to the small-town Milan team that inspired the movie "Hoosiers," the Bulldogs have instead resembled the gritty racehorse from "Seabiscuit." In three tournament games, the Bulldogs lost leads in the closing minutes, only to thunder down the homestretch to finish first.

After leading by 11 points in the first half and 10 in the second, the Bulldogs fell behind 52-51 with less than five minutes left. They trailed for all of 35 seconds.

Clemente scored on a runner to tie it at 54. Then the Bulldogs secured the victory with a 9-0 run beginning with Hayward's layup off Nored's lob. Nored drove for a left-handed layup to make it 58-54 with 2:04 left, and Hayward's drive extended that to 60-54 with 62 seconds on the clock.

Kansas State coach Frank Martin said the Bulldogs "kicked our tails" and "annihilated us" on the glass.

"It's hard to be happy for someone when you lose," Martin said. "But I've got to think it's going to be a great, great week for Butler people and people in the city of Indianapolis to have one of their own in the Final Four."

One of the Bulldogs' unusual features is that three sophomores -- Hayward, Mack and Nored -- are starters and they lack the experience supposedly necessary for a mid-major to make a lengthy tourney run.

Yet national championships have been won by Butler before -- in an AAU Tournament in 1924 and a mythical one from 1929. There are banners at Hinkle Fieldhouse commemorating those titles.

It's a big place, though. There's plenty of room left to hang another.

If you don't believe it, Stevens said, you can't achieve it.

"This is a very special moment in our life," Mack said. "We all believed in each other."