Michigan State Spartans, March Madness | featured news

Gorgui Dieng swatted away the West Region's top seed to send Rick Pitino into another regional final.

Duke is the favorite among the Final Four to win the NCAA title, while Michigan State is a longshot despite its trip to the finals last year, oddsmakers in Las Vegas said Monday....

Four teams are left on the road to the national championship. In a matchup between bluebloods and the blue-collared, South Regional champion Duke will face East Regional champ West Virginia. And in a meeting of Final Four veterans and never-beens, it will be Midwest Regional champ Michigan State against West Regional champion Butler.

Durrell Summers scored 19 points and Korie Lucious hit a whirling turnaround jumper with 95 seconds left, helping fifth-seeded Michigan State survive a mid-major scare with a 59-52 win over pesky Northern Iowa in the Midwest Regional semifinals Friday night.

Michigan State (27-8) needed a half to get used to Northern Iowa's grinding style and held the Panthers to 10 free throws over the final 10:22 to send the heroes of the Heartland home empty-handed.

North Carolina teammates Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, along with Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, are among 11 players named to the John R. Wooden Award All American team. Hansbrough and Lawson will lead the Tar Heels against Villanova in Saturday's national championship semifinals. Thabeet and the Huskies play Michigan State in the other semifinal in Detroit.

Michigan State turned a nail biter into a runaway victory, 64-52, denying the Big East a third Final Four team.

There is an impressive statistic that has been building over time in East Lansing, Mich., one that Michigan State coach Tom Izzo treasures above all others. In the last 12 years, every Spartan who has stayed for four years has appeared in a Final Four. Thanks to an unexpected scoring binge from senior Travis Walton, who has yet to step on to college basketball's biggest stage, Michigan State still...