NCAA Scores 2015: Tournament Results Tracker for Sunday's Elite 8 Bracket

For three of the four teams playing in Sunday's Elite Eight matchups, this was par for the course.

Louisville, Michigan State and Duke have a combined 47 Elite Eight appearances between them. Their three coaches, Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo and Mike Krzyzewski, are among the greatest tournament minds ever to grace the college basketball landscape. They probably each have more Hall of Fame plaques in their office than plants.

And then there's Gonzaga. The Bulldogs, who ousted another national power in UCLA to meet Duke, earned their second Elite Eight berth in school history. The first appearance came in 1999, as Gonzaga was introducing itself to the world as a mid-major to look out for. Now, a decade and a half later, Mark Few's team had the opportunity to finally prove it belongs not just atop the mid-major stage, but on the national stage as well.

How did it all work out? Here is a complete look at a recap for Sunday's Elite Eight action, along with an updated look at this year's tournament bracket.

Bracket/Results

Region	Matchup	Result
East	(7) Michigan State vs. (4) Louisville	Michigan State 76-70
South	(2) Gonzaga vs. (1) Duke	Duke 66-52

Recap

South: (1) Duke 66, (2) Gonzaga 52

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Krzyzewski got zero points from his bench. The second unit only took one shot attempt, meaningfully contributing eight rebounds and little else. Luckily for Coach K, that doesn't matter as long as you have the starting lineup to pull it off.

Four Duke starters scored in double figures, led by 16 apiece from Matt Jones and Justise Winslow, as the Blue Devils moved to the Final Four with a 66-52 victory over Gonzaga.

The win marks Duke's 12th trip to the Final Four under Coach K and first since 2010. John Wooden, who also had 12 Final Fours on his resume, is the only other coach to make as many trips. It should also be noted that all of Wooden's championships and appearances came before the tournament adopted its modern 64-team format.

Every one of Coach K's, on the other hand, has come since the expansion.

Playing in a stadium with far better acoustics for football than basketball, Duke and Gonzaga, two of the nation's most prolific offenses, each struggled to get things going. The Blue Devils won despite shooting 37.5 percent from the floor, much of which can be attributed to their ability to take care of the ball and knock down free throws. They turned the ball over three times compared to Gonzaga's 13 and held a 16-6 advantage on made shots at the charity stripe.

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Winslow, who added five rebounds, knocked down all six of his free-throw attempts. Tyus Jones also added 15 points and six assists. Jahlil Okafor was the only Duke starter who did not score in double figures, putting together nine points and eight rebounds.

"This is a magical moment for us, but we played a magical team in Gonzaga," Krzyzewski said after the game, per an Associated Press report. 

Gonzaga got 16 points from Kyle Wiltjer but little else from its top talent. The only other Bulldogs player who scored in double figures was Byron Wesley, who had 10. Kevin Pangos had only four points after shooting 2-of-8 from the field. One of the nation's most prolific three-point shooting teams, Gonzaga only knocked down two of 10 attempts from distance Sunday.

The Bulldogs were making their second Elite Eight appearance in program history.

East: (7) Michigan State 76, (4) Louisville 70

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Michigan State and Louisville each had a chance to win the game in regulation. Both failed. But when it came down to the overtime period, Izzo's Spartans mustered just enough energy to get the job done.

Travis Trice scored a team-high 17 points, Bryn Forbes scored five of his 14 in the extra period and Denzel Valentine turned in an excellent all-around performance as Michigan State earned a 76-70 win over Louisville.

The win marks Izzo's seventh trip to the Final Four since taking over the Michigan State program in 1995. He's done it with young teams, old teams and ones filled with first-round picks. But many inside East Lansing will walk away from Sunday wondering if this is his best tournament effort yet.

A No. 7 seed after a regular season that included home losses to Texas Southern, Illinois and Minnesota, few had Michigan State making it out of the first weekend. Yet the Spartans persevered against the toughest slate of any Final Four team, taking down second-seeded Virginia, third-seeded Oklahoma and fourth-seeded Louisville in consecutive games.

Down 40-32 at halftime, the Spartans locked defensively and forced Louisville's offense into a deep swoon awfully familiar to Cardinals fans. After puncturing the middle of the floor time and again during the first 20 minutes, Louisville's offense totally stagnated for the second half and overtime.

The Cardinals finished the game shooting 35.9 percent and made only four threes. Too many of their possessions closed with ugly isolation basketball, assisting on 10 buckets compared to 20 for Michigan State. Wayne Blackshear turned in one of his best performances with a game-high 28 points, knocking down each Louisville three and getting to the line 12 times.

But it was mostly a struggle for the other two in Pitino's three-headed scoring monster. Montrezl Harrell scored 12 of Louisville's first 19 points and then didn't make another field goal the rest of the way. Terry Rozier shot 6-of-23 from the field en route to his 13 points and was often the worst offender when it came to iso ball. The Cardinals bench also managed a grand total of five points, continuing their trend of anemic scoring that's been prevalent all season long.

Nick Lisi/Associated Press

Michigan State, meanwhile, was defined by its collective effort. Trice shot just 5-of-15 but added five assists and kept things afloat when the Spartans offense struggled in the first half. Valentine scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed out six dimes; it was the third time in his last five games he's gone 15-5-5. And while Louisville got nothing from its bench, Forbes' four three-pointers injected life into the offense and helped break two ties.

All season long, Michigan State was defined by coming up just short in key moments. Close losses to tournament teams, including an overtime failure against Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, were boundless. It looked as if Izzo was lacking the Gary Harris or Adreian Payne who could put this team over the top.

In the end, we found out Sunday that sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.