Well, Sparty is smiling in East Lansing this afternoon. The Michigan State Spartans have downed the number 1 overall seed Louisville in the NCAA tournament, 64-52.

The Spartans will now get to play in a Final Four 75 miles from their campus at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. This grants them a massive advantage that most teams could only dream of having in the Final Four.

As a Big Ten fan, I am thrilled that the Spartans are there to represent the Big Ten. The Big Ten had the credentials to be the second or third best conference in the country this season, but was often looked over for the typically better ACC, quite possibly the most disappointing conference in the tournament this year.

The Spartans will face the Connecticut Huskies, also of the Big East, in their national semifinal.

UConn is a much different team than Louisville. They are focused much more on their bigs and a half court game. Louisville has been a guard oriented, up tempo team all season long. You can count on any team coached by Tom Izzo to show up prepared for any style of basketball.