The final day of more than one 2015 NCAA Tournament game is upon us.
The 2015 Final Four begins Saturday night in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the four premier programs left in the NCAA Tournament are sure to put on a show.
In the night's first national semifinal, Duke makes a rare appearance in a non-primetime slot, taking on Michigan State at 6:09 p.m. ET on TBS. The game will set a record for most combined Final Four appearances by two coaches, as Duke's Mike Krzyzewski will tie UCLA's John Wooden with his 12th, while Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is tied for third all-time with seven.
The matchup pits the Blue Devils — who are in a Final Four in Indianapolis as the No. 1 seed from a South Regional terminating in Houston for the second time in five years — against the Spartans — whose path to the Final Four nearly mirrors the one taken by 2014 national champion Connecticut — for the fourth time in NCAA Tournament history. Duke won the teams' first meeting, in the 1999 Final Four, but Michigan State prevailed in the Sweet Sixteen in 2005, setting up a rubber match in the 2013 Sweet Sixteen that went to Duke.
While neither team has won a national title after winning a Duke-Michigan State game in the NCAA Tournament, Spartans fans can take heart in the history of 2005: Michigan State's win over Duke was followed by a classic Elite Eight victory over Kentucky.
And speaking of Kentucky, the Wildcats and Wisconsin will meet at 8:49 p.m. on TBS in the first Final Four rematch in decades. Teams that met in the NCAA Tournament final have met again in the next year's national semifinal twice since 1991 (Florida and UCLA in 2006 and 2007, Duke and UNLV in 1990 and 1991), but teams that met in a national semifinal have never before met again in the next year's Final Four round since the inception of the 64-team era. When UCLA and Houston met in the Final Four in 1967 and 1968, the NCAA Tournament field was comprised of just 23 teams.
Kentucky and Wisconsin played one of the better games of the 2014 NCAA Tournament in Cowboys Stadium last April, with Aaron Harrison making another improbable three in the final seconds to give Kentucky a 74-73 win and propel the Wildcats to the national championship game. Both teams return nearly every player from those teams: Kentucky's losses of Alex Poythress, Julius Randle and James Young have been offset by freshman stars Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns and Tyler Ulis; Wisconsin senior Ben Brust graduated, and Traevon Jackson's lingering injury woes have made Bronson Koenig the Badgers' lead point guard.
For the second straight year, both Final Four games will air not on broadcast network CBS, but on cable channel TBS, as part of the NCAA's 14-year deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting to air the NCAA Tournament. Team-specific broadcasts featuring former players as color commentators will also be available for the Final Four games: Duke's and Kentucky's will air on TNT, and Michigan State's and Wisconsin's will be broadcast on truTV.
All three broadcasts will be available for online streaming through March Madness Live with validation of a cable or satellite provider.
2015 Final Four Schedule
First National Semifinal: No. 1 Duke vs. No. 7 Michigan State
6:09 p.m., TBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, and Tracy Wolfson)
Second National Semifinal: No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 1 Wisconsin
8:49 p.m., TBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, and Tracy Wolfson)
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