Michigan State Spartan Hoopla: Tom Izzo's M*A*S*H Unit Is Final Four-Bound

In a superbly executed game on both ends for both teams (for the most part), Tom Izzo's Spartans edged Bruce Pearl's Tennessee Volunteers 70-69, punching their ticket to the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Michigan State will take on Brad Stevens' Horizon League champion Butler Bulldogs (32-4) on Sat., April 3 at 6:07 pm in its first round of Final Four action.

The 2010 version of Michigan State (28-8) basketball showed the country that even amongst controversy and adversity it could ban together and get the job done.

Banged and bruised, hobbled and injured; Izzo's M*A*S*H Unit simply found a way to make do without its fallen floor-general Kalin Lucas. 

Lucas' Achilles' injury against Gary Williams' Maryland Terrapins was supposed to put the nix on an any dreams of playing in the Circle City—it didn't.

The ailment just added a twist to Izzo's Indianapolis storyline.

Pearl's Vols (28-9) threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at the Spartans in an effort to somehow stop their March run: Back-door lobs by the handful, precisely ran post sets; Tennessee's attack was potent.

Pressure: The Vols went to a full-court press late in the game; taking a page from the Terps playbook. It worked, and Korie Lucious committed five turnovers, most were because of the applied burden. The 5'11" Milwaukee native dished out four assists, had five steals, and scored eight points in his new-found decoy role.

Lucious couldn't command the tempo of the game like he did against Maryland and Northern Iowa; but somehow the Izzo clan remained resilient and kept its cool.

Draymond Green, Durrell Summers and Raymar Morgan took it upon themselves to elevate their team's confidence and performance when others couldn't.

Morgan, who has averaged nearly 17 points in his last 12 games, scored 13 and was nothing short of reliable from the foul line in the Elite 8 squabble.

He converted on 5-of-6 from the charity stripe; missing one intentionally late in the second half by order of his coach in order to chew up what was left of the 1.8 seconds on the game clock. The "Captain" was also stout in the paint, creating opportunities to get those foul line attempts.

Green has increased his worth on a game-by-game basis. Whether it was in the war zone down-low, or spreading the ball for his teammates' to pop at an open look; Green did it all.

Summers has been his own story of late. Accompanied with his senior counterpart Morgan, the two have the potential to be one of the more prolific scoring-duos in Indianapolis.

The 6'4" Detroit native has tallied buckets by the dozen in this year's madness. He scored a game-high 21 points in Sunday's duel, put up 26 against Maryland, and has averaged around 20 per game so far in the melee of March.

If there were ever a time that Izzo needed two of his gifted scoring weapons its now; in the month that his program has established its reputation of dominance.

It wasn't much more than a couple of weeks ago that Izzo's men were counted out, left for dead come the Madness. A vast majority of analysts and experts had the Spartans being ousted in the first round.

Coach Izzo continued to prove that his teams are never to be overlooked—not in March; six Final Fours in 12 years says it all.

As seen on Barking Carnival's "Sparty On" blog.