These two teams have combined for 25 Final Four appearances, and one of the schools has appeared in each of the last six Final Fours.

The Spartans (19-14) were the No. 2 team in the nation in the preseason polls but have had a massively disappointing year – possibly the most trying in Tom Izzo’s career. MSU wasn’t even assured of an NCAA bid until Sparty stepped up and upset Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. But then as has been typical this year, Michigan State then was dominated in the next game by Penn State. But the good news is that star point guard Kalin Lucas is coming on. He averaged 21.5 points in MSU’s last 11 games before the Big Ten tourney and scored a career-high 30 in the 74-56 quarterfinal win vs. Purdue. He did tweak his ankle in that game but will play in this one. In its 24 NCAA Tournaments, MSU has a record of 19-5 in its first game of the tournament.

UCLA (22-10) finished second in the Pac-10 but had a disappointing conference tournament, losing its opener 76-59 to a bad Oregon team. The Spartans and Bruins have one common opponent this year: Washington. MSU topped Washington in Maui at the start of the year, 76-71, while UCLA lost to Washington twice in Pac-10 action. These two schools have never met in the NCAA Tournament and haven’t played since 2007. Starting guard Malcolm Lee has a small cartilage tear in his left knee but will play. But he wasn’t very effective on the knee in the Pac-10 Tournament.

Madness would not be betting on the NCAA Tournament at Bodog!