NCAA Tournament schedule and results: Michigan State, Duke back in Final Four

In the night’s first national semifinal, Duke makes a rare appearance in a non-primetime slot, taking on Michigan State at 6:09 p.m. ET on TBS. The game will set a record for most combined Final Four appearances by two coaches, as Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski will tie UCLA’s John Wooden with his 12th, while Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is tied for third all-time with seven.

The matchup pits the Blue Devils — who are in a Final Four in Indianapolis as the No. 1 seed from a South Regional terminating in Houston for the second time in five years — against the Spartans — whose path to the Final Four nearly mirrors the one taken by 2014 national champion Connecticut — for the fourth time in NCAA Tournament history. Duke won the teams’ first meeting, in the 1999 Final Four, but Michigan State prevailed in the Sweet Sixteen in 2005, setting up a rubber match in the 2013 Sweet Sixteen that went to Duke.

It’s funny how after spending two weeks of being proven consistently wrong, we all still always think we’ve got the Final Four figured out. Who cares if our bracket was busted by 3 p.m. on the opening Thursday, Kentucky is definitely going to roll over Duke in the final, or Kentucky is definitely not going to complete history this weekend.

We still don’t know anything, but before diving any more deeply into what we think will or will not happen this weekend in Indianapolis, let’s take a quick look back at just how wrong we’ve already been and just how fun it was to see it all play out.

Duke was looking for its 12th Final Four berth. Gonzaga was looking for its first.

On Sunday in Houston, history repeated itself at NRG Stadium in the South Regional final. No. 1 Duke locked down the Bulldogs on defense and made free throws and clutch shots down the stretch to earn a 66-52 win over No. 2 Gonzaga, along with the last Final Four berth awarded in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

QUINN COOK TOUCHED MY HAND QUINN COOK TOUCHED MY HAND QUINN COOK TOUCHED MY HAND

This is pretty much the opposite end of the Band Member Reaction spectrum from the Villanova piccolo player.

There was no way Tyus Jones was gonna get this back inbound, but he spotted Przemek Karnowski relaxing on the floor and realized he had an alternative:

That’s Duke ball. Brilliantly done. The Cowboys loved it.

Great basketball player, poor free throw shooter.

CBS did an interview with Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky and Bo Ryan at halftime of Duke-Gonzaga. They introduced it with this instant classic of a bumper, featuring Kaminsky Carlton-ing all up in our faces:

Your Big Ten Player of the Year, everybody.

Michigan State is headed to the Final Four after defeating Louisville in OT, and mere minutes after the final buzzer, we’ve got our first flaming couch:

History suggests there will be more, and indeed there may be already:

As regulation neared its end, Louisville gained a 64-63 lead with 1:13 on a pair of Wayne Blackshear free throws, but Marvin Clark Jr. responded with a hook shot shoved in to retain the lead.

It took the Spartans a while to heat up, but once they did at about the 10-minute mark, a 10-0 run over a three-minute span gave Michigan State a 57-51 lead that felt much larger than six points because of the Cardinals’ inability to produce offense. Still, Louisville woke up just in time.

He blocked it with his wrist (!!). Maybe some contact on the body? Tough call in a key moment with MSU leading 59-55.

Another week has come and nearly gone, but not before the Elite Eight concludes. Four more teams are scheduled to play Sunday to finalize the region championship and give us our Final Four.

The early game hosts the two lowest seeds remaining in this year’s tournament. No. 7 Michigan State knocked off No. 2 Virginia and No. 3 Oklahoma in consecutive weeks thanks to coach Tom Izzo’s typical March magic that seems impossible to stop these days.

You wouldn’t realize how poor No. 2 Gonzaga played offensively against No. 11 UCLA in a 74-62 win on Friday until you look at its season as a whole. The Bulldogs shot 40 percent from the floor and 16 behind the arc, which clearly isn’t great, but it feels like Kentucky won half of its games this season with similar shooting splits.

But Gonzaga’s success relies on its offense, and this season, the Bulldogs shot 52 percent from the field and 40 percent on three-pointers. In fact, their field goal percentage was the best in the entire nation while their three-point shooting was fourth.

After two incredible games kicked off the Elite Eight on Saturday, the Final Four will get its final two participants on Sunday. We already know one game next Saturday will be a Final Four rematch between Kentucky and Wisconsin. On the other side of the bracket, Duke will play Gonzaga and Louisville will play Michigan State for the right to join the Wildcats and Badgers in Indianapolis.

You can follow along with all of the action with our printable bracket.

Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein is the tallest member of a notoriously tall front line, at 7’0 and around 240 pounds. And yet you’ll hear people -- college fans and NBA scouts alike -- say he can guard all five positions. This is what they’re talking about. Watch No. 15 in white:

The anchor of Kentucky’s defense has unbelievably quick feet for a guy his size, and the shot Notre Dame pulled in its final six-second possession exemplified that speed and agility. Jerian Grant is 6’5 and fast as shit with the ball in his hands, yet Cauley-Stein not only stayed with him stride-for-stride for 70 feet, but drove him toward the corner when he shifted to his right and tried to take the middle. It’s like a giraffe gamely cornering a mongoose.

All season, Kentucky has turned away challengers, embodying the wisdom of Omar Little: “Come at the king, you best not miss.” Notre Dame tried as hard as it could to finish off the unbeaten Wildcats in Saturday’s Elite Eight thriller — but when the time came for the final shots, the Irish fired blanks.

Their next win would give these ‘Cats that record all to their own — and it will have to come against Wisconsin in a rematch of the 2014 Final Four.

THIS GAME IS VERY GOOD. First Aaron Harrison shot the Wildcats into the lead from deeeeep:

Then Jerian Grant took it right back for Notre Dame:

Three Vines to tell a story.

1) Zach Auguste dunks

Wisconsin started the game as well as it had hoped, racing out to a 10-2 lead in the first four minutes. However, the Badgers’ shooting quickly went cold and the Wildcats rallied back to tie the game. Arizona eventually took a lead at the 2:35 mark and held onto it for the rest of the half, going into the locker with a 33-30 advantage. The Wildcats shot lights-out in the first half, making 54.5 percent of their field goals. Wisconsin struggled to a 38.5 shooting percentage.

Wisconsin will move on to face either Kentucky or Notre Dame in Indianapolis next week.

Splendid non-call, ref. Seriously:

Frank Kaminsky is a gifted foul-drawer, but leaning in to elbow a defender and wiping your armpit on his face while you toss the ball four feet short of the rim with a wildly unnatural shooting motion isn’t gonna cut it.

If you were looking for the reason for Michigan State’s slow start last night, look no further. According to Tom Izzo, the blame lies squarely on him and the movie Get Hard.

So there you have it, the movie Get Hard can take away everything you’ve worked for in the blink of an eye.

Michigan State’s never really been much for pretty wins. But the Spartans and Tom Izzo don’t care how they win, as long as they do — and they got another win in a Friday Sweet Sixteen matchup with Oklahoma, 62-58.

But Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield sank a three only seconds later, whittling the Michigan State advantage to two points, and the two teams traded baskets from there, with the Sooners forcing Trice to the line up two with 14 seconds to play.

On a night when star center Jahlil Okafor struggled to get his offense going, another freshman decided Duke’s season wasn’t going to end in the Sweet 16. Justise Winslow returned to his hometown Houston and was the driving force behind Duke’s 62-57 victory on Saturday night.

Winslow finished with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds in the victory. He also made several impressive defensive plays, including another chase down block:

(It’s still a cool dunk.)

Justise Winslow does this all the time. He’s pretty good.

Rick Pitino’s sterling record in the Sweet 16 was on the line when No. 4 Louisville faced No. 8 N.C. State on Friday night in Syracuse. Pitino entered with an 11-1 record all-time in the round, while Mark Gottfried was coaching the Wolfpack in the Sweet 16 for the second time in four seasons. Pitino’s experience won out, and Louisville took home a 75-65 victory to advance to the Elite Eight for the fifth time in eight seasons.

It was the close game most of the way. Louisville started to take control around the three minute mark when Terry Rozier took a rebound coast-to-coast and finished through contact for the and-one layup. The basket was the highlight of a 9-0 run for Louisville that was enough to secure the victory. Pitino’s team will play the winner of No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 3 Oklahoma in the Elite Eight on Sunday.