NCAA Basketball Scores 2012: Michigan State Riding Draymond Green Back to Glory

No triple double? No problem!

Sure, Draymond Green wasn't quite as great against ninth seed Saint Louis as he was against 16th seed LIU Brooklyn, though the Big Ten Player of the Year did plenty to put top-seed Michigan State back into the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years.

Green finished the game—a 65-61 victory for the Spartans—with 16 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Of course, Green was similarly scintillating on the court in last year's Big Dance, though his 23-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist, four-steal virtuoso wasn't quite enough to lead MSU past UCLA in the first round.

The difference, this time around, extends far beyond just Green's contributions, or Keith Appling's game-high 19 points, or the 10 points apiece from Brandon Wood and Derrick Nix.

The real takeaway here, the one that makes Michigan State such a strong bet to grant Tom Izzo his seventh trip to the Final Four (aside from Norfolk State's Cinderella upset of Missouri), is defense.

Yes, defense, that thing that Izzo has emphasized ad nauseum since he first ascended to the top job in East Lansing in 1995, right next to toughness and rebounding and defense and more defense.

As in, that thing that helped Sparty hold the Billikens to 35.3 percent shooting from the field on Sunday.

It's the same thing the Spartans will overhear Rick Pitino screaming about on Thursday, when they meet fourth-seed Louisville in Phoenix for a Sweet 16 waltz. The Cardinals and the Spartans rank second and third in the nation, respectively, in field goal percentage defense, including spots in the top 20 against the three.

The difference may well come down to a disparity on the boards, as Michigan State sports the fourth-best rebounding margin while Louisville checks in at 126th in that very same category.

Granted, the Cards played a brutal schedule in the Big East, though Sparty's slate in the Big Ten was no walk in the park itself.

More importantly, Michigan State is bigger, beefier and more skilled up front than Louisville, though it'll be particularly imperative for the Spartans to slow the game down and take care of the ball against Pitino's fast, pressing defense.

If the Spartans can do that, and get a bit more magic from Draymond Green, they'll be well on their way to the Elite Eight.

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