Michigan State Stays Course With Semifinal Victory

The four first-year members of the 10-person NCAA tournament selection committee must be wishing they had booked vacation to the Cayman Islands this weekend, for it is difficult to recall a more harrowing final 24 hours in the 64-team selection process.

Michigan State took a step closer Saturday to securing one of four top seedings for the NCAA tournament with a 55-46 victory over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Conference tournament semifinals before a crowd of 22,011 at the United Center, but even the Spartans’ NCAA future isn’t secure yet.

The committee is probably itching to pencil Michigan State into the top spot in the Midwest Regional, but there’s this one, sizable complication.

Michigan State (25-7) still has to play Illinois (21-8) in today’s Big Ten championship game, which figures to end about an hour before the 64-field team will be announced on national television by CBS.

If Illinois pulls off what would be a mild upset, the selection committee will be scrambling for a contingency plan to put the four top-ranked teams in the East, West, South and Midwest regions.

This is what happens when almost nothing goes to form.

Syracuse, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Tennessee and Utah, all seeded No. 1 in their conference tournaments, lost before reaching the finals.

The slew of upsets have rocked prospective brackets and knocked prospective tournament teams off the so-called bubble.

If you are Bowling Green, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Southwest Missouri State, Cal State Long Beach, Villanova, Notre Dame, St. Bonaventure and a handful of others, you did not sleep well Saturday night.

And you can thank:

* Saint Louis’ upset of DePaul in the Conference USA final. The Billikens were a borderline NCAA choice even after knocking off No. 1 Cincinnati on Thursday, but Saint Louis’ victory secured an automatic bid.

* Arkansas. The Razorbacks, who would not have made the tournament as an at-large team, have surprisingly advanced to the final of the Southeastern Conference tournament. If Arkansas defeats Auburn in today’s title game, that knocks another bubble school out of the bracket.

A Maryland upset of Duke in today’s Atlantic Coast Conference title game would only add to the chaos.

Here is how we’re guessing the situation shakily stands:

By winning the Pacific 10’s automatic bid with its victory over California, we see Arizona as No. 1 in the West.

If Duke wins, the Blue Devils take the top seeding in the East and open the first round in nearby Winston-Salem, N.C.

The top spot in the South might be a fight between Stanford, which ended its two-game losing streak Saturday with a victory over Arizona State, and Temple, which dominated St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10 championship.

If Michigan State beats Illinois, expect the Spartans to be No. 1 in the Midwest.

The second-seeded Spartans almost made things too interesting Saturday when they let a 19-point second-half lead slip to five with four minutes remaining before closing out sixth-seeded Wisconsin.

“I’ll take a win however it comes,” said Michigan State guard Mateen Cleaves, who finished with 13 points and seven assists. “But when we get a team down, we do need to bury them.”

Wisconsin’s defense tends to bring out the worst in opponents. The Badgers have held eight teams this season to fewer than 50 points.

Their problem is they can’t shoot straight.

They rank ninth in the Big Ten in offense and made only 17 of 55 field-goal attempts (30.9%) against the Spartans.

The Badgers, remember, scored only 32 points in a first-round NCAA tournament loss last year to Southwest Missouri State.

Wisconsin (18-13) secured an NCAA bid with victories over Northwestern and Purdue, and may have been fatigued after playing a tough Friday night game against Purdue.

But the Badgers offered no excuses.

“Michigan State is a team that can make you look tired after a full week’s rest,” Coach Dick Bennett said.

*

Illinois 94, Penn State 84--Last season, the Illini finished 3-13 in conference and nearly snatched an NCAA bid by shocking three ranked opponents in the Big Ten tournament before losing in the final to Michigan State.

This year’s trip to the final is not a surprise.

No. 4 Illinois (21-8) polished off No. 5 Indiana in a Friday quarterfinal game and then stopped No. 9 Penn State (15-15), another potential interloper, from wreaking further havoc.

Illinois got 34 points from freshman Brian Cook (18) and freshman guard Frank Williams (16) to advance to today’s title game against Michigan State.

“We as coaches don’t expect them to play as freshmen anymore,” Illinois Coach Lon Kruger said of his two leading scorers. “They’re not freshmen anymore. Of late, they are playing more consistent and at the higher level we need them to play at this point of the season.”

Kruger also received a great game from his bench players, who outscored Penn State’s reserves, 33 to 16.

Marcus Griffin and Damir Krupalija supplied most of the bench punch. Griffin scored 10 points in 14 minutes and Krupalija had nine points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Big Ten Championship

At United Center, Chicago

MICHIGAN STATE (25-7)

vs. ILLINOIS (21-8)

Today, 12:30, Channel 2