INDIANAPOLIS - This one caused people to stop and recognize the greatness of Tom Izzo.

Some already recognized it. Now, there is no question.

He had done it four times before, but this fifth trip to the Final Four has a different taste to it, toppling media darling Rick Pitino, defeating red hot, No. 1-seeded Louisville in front of 25,000 loud Cardinal fans and a television audience which included some famous, surprised talking heads. Izzo did it as a decided underdog, piloting his talented, obedient cast of Spartans to their best performance of the season right when it mattered most.

Again.

One gets the idea that this one will cause people to make mental notes to themselves: Never underestimate Izzo in March.

Ever again.

We've seen him go to the Final Four three times as a No. 1 seed. Once as a Cinderella No. 5 seed, in 2005, beating Duke and Kentucky in the same weekend along the way.

And now as an undervalued No. 2 seed in 2009.

In past tournaments, we've seen Izzo's Spartans shoot down Bambi, as Izzo called them (John Chaney's last chance Temple team in 2001, darling du jour Gonzaga in 2001, Vermont in 2005, Princeton's highest-seeded team ever in 1998).

Three times, including this year, we have seen his Spartans eliminate the defending national champion (Kentucky in 1999, Maryland in 2003, and Kansas on Friday night).

We have seen him blow out No. 2-seeded Florida in 2003 in Tampa, causing Gator fans to hit the exits with 15 minutes to play. And Billy Donovan's team needed a field goal in the final minute to break 40.

This time, going against Donovan's mentor, the high-flying, super sonic Cardinals needed a basket in the final seconds to break 50.

The night before, Izzo watched a few minutes of SportsCenter, just like the rest of us, and heard his pal Digger Phelps cite MSU's low point totals as a reason why the Spartans couldn't beat Louisville. Phelps said Izzo was wrong in his plans to run and break against the Cardinals. Phelps said Michigan State needed to keep the game in the 60s in order to win.

Sunday night, Phelps was claiming he was right, that MSU won because they kept it in the 60s. His buddy Dick Vitale said MSU succeeded in keeping the pace properly slow.

That's all bull. Louisville held the ball just as long as Michigan State did. The problem was that Louisville was unable to get good shots after two, three, four, five, six passes. They ran as much clock as Michigan State did.

Eventually, Louisville players just started shooting surrender shots. Those are the kind when players abandon the offense, abandon the dribble, abandon the pass, and just hoist up something.

That's when MSU began to rebound and go. The Spartans could have went for style points and a 30-point win, by pushing some 2-on-2 opportunities in the open court. But that also could have opened the window to a Louisville comeback if the Spartans didn't finish those high-speed chances. MSU was wise in knowing when to run in this game.

Michigan State didn't begin slowing the pace and running clock until the Spartans were up 15 with five minutes to play.

After the first couple of minutes, Louisville didn't come forward with its customary array of trapping presses. They went with an occasional run-and-jump trap, like once or twice in the entire game. But we didn't see Louisville commit to their full-bore 1-2-1-1 full-court trap.

They were wise to fear Michigan State's press break. MSU has history of sprinting through full-court presses, often against bewildered, surprised opponents, like Georgetown in 1986 (think Skiles), Arkansas' 40 Minutes of Hell in 1991 (think Eric Snow and Shawn Respert in Maui), and Donovan in the national title game in 2000 and again in '03, just to name a few.

Pitino may have known the history, and therefore resisted the temptation to trap. MSU was cocked, primed and ready to fire its press break fireworks if Louisville had challenged them with full-bore pressure.

When the Cardinals pressed, they denied the in-bound, but then dropped back into full-court man-to-man. When seeing this, Izzo would direct four Spartans to clear out of the way, head down court, and let Michigan State's point guard bring the ball up against 94 feet of individual man-to-man pressure.

It was tiring for the MSU point guard, but an effective way to handle the pressure. If Louisville wasn't going to come forward and trap, there was no need for MSU to try to attack it for a numbers advantage.

MSU had as many styles of press break as Louisville had presses. But MSU didn't have to use them all because Louisville didn't meet the Spartans in the center of the ring and attempt to trade haymakers.

Izzo was concerned about the wear-down factor if Louisville came with the whole shebang. There was a bit of an unknown there. But fears were unfounded as Louisville appeared to be the tired team in the final stages, literally quitting on the defensive glass. The Spartans missed 14 shots in the second half, and grabbed offensive rebounds on an absurd 11 of them.

Cautious about fatigue, Izzo rested Kalin Lucas frequently in the first half, and had Travis Walton and Korie Lucious bring the ball up against the full court man-to-man defense, just often enough to keep Lucas well-fueled.

Even against the watered-down Louisville press, Izzo ignited the Heathcote blitz counter break just a few times. Once, when changing speeds to "sprint" and attacking the press, Lucas caught a Cardinal defender by surprise with a speed dribble, drove into him, picked up a foul 80 feet from the basket, and went to the free throw line for a one-and-one.

Another time, the Spartans quickly relayed the ball up the left sideline and Lucious nailed a 3-pointer to give the Spartans a 30-27 lead at halftime. Pitino said that basket was one of the turning points of the game.

Louisville could have forced a faster pace if the Cardinals hadn't scaled back their pressure. That was Louisville's decision. Yet everyone will "blame" Michigan State for keeping the game in the 60s, and "winning ugly," as Digger said on Sunday night.

However, to Digger's credit, one night after questioning Izzo's plans to run against Louisville, Digger said of Izzo, "The guy is amazing, the way he can get talent and get them believe."

Said ESPN studio host Rece Davis: "He's one of the great ones and we should mention him whenever we talk about great coaches."

Why do we care what these ESPN talking heads say? Well, there is a perception that Michigan State, and every other team in the Big Ten, walks the ball up the floor and plays broken down Jalopy ball. That bothers Izzo a little bit.

But now the high tide of numbers and accomplishments make Michigan State look like a Ferrari.

Izzo is now tied for third among active coaches in Final Four appearances behind Mike Krzyzewski (10) and Roy Williams (6). Izzo is tied with Pitino at 5.

Izzo is 30-10 in the NCAA Tournament. His .750 winning percentage in The Big Dance ranks only behind Krzyzewski and Donovan (22-7). Izzo moved ahead of Pitino this weekend. But Donovan keeps going to the NIT (two years in a row) to protect that record or something. One more Florida one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament and Izzo will pass Donovan and trail only Coach K.

In 2005, Izzo became the sixth coach in history to lead a team to four Final Fours in a seven-year span, joining guys named Krzyzewski, John Wooden, Dean Smith, Denny Crum and Henry Iba.

How many coaches have taken teams to five Final Fours in an 11-year period? They're still doing the math on that one this morning.

No program has gone to more Final Fours since 1999 than Michigan State.

Izzo is 61-28 in March. Izzo is 14-2 on the second game of a weekend in the NCAA Tournament. That last figure pumps Spartan players with confidence. "Coach said if we could get him through Friday, he would get us through Sunday," Lucas said.

"Our coaches have us better-prepared than anybody," Walton said.

Whether or not that statement is true, all that matters is that the players believe it.

Sometimes the players get tired of Izzo's mini-meetings after mini-meetings. But Walton admitted that the final 20-minute confab about box-and-one and triangle-and-two defenses prior to the USC game might have tilted the eventual outcome of the game.

And Sunday's walk-though in the hotel basement prior to the Louisville game provided slight changes for the Spartans' press breaker. The walk-through also left Izzo saying to himself, "We're going to win."

Why?

"Because they walked in like they were in the army," Izzo said. "They usually come sauntering in there, cool and casual. But it was like hip, hip, hip. I felt like saluting them."

Izzo loved their focus.

"They all walked in and grabbed the stuff and grabbed a ball and I said, 'Okay, we got 10 minutes of this, 10 minutes of this, and 5 minutes of this.' And it was like boom, boom, boom, boom. We went through their plays, went through their out-of-bounds plays, changed the press breaker a little bit and watched two of the teams that I had looked at that I thought had done a good job against them (Villanova and Morehead State), and that was it."

Izzo felt good about life.

(By the way, how many teams hold walk-throughs in hotel basements on the morning of a game? Not many that I'm aware of.)

But when the players took the court, and he heard and saw the estimated 25,000 Louisville fans out of 39,000, Izzo turned to his troops and said, "Well, another road game, guys!"

Might as well play the "us against the world" card again. Michigan State improved to 18-4 away from Breslin Center with this game.

After the game, when walking to the team bus at the Lucas Oil Stadium ramp, Izzo admitted that the bothersome stretch of mid-winter road games probably helped on this day.

"Back when we were killing ourselves with all those road games, I think it probably did (toughen these guys up), and get them used to it," Izzo said.

From Nov. 17 to Jan .4, Michigan State played 12 games. Nine of the 12 games were away from Breslin Center, a rarity within today's budget-conscience preoccupation with home ticket sales.

Izzo cursed himself for scheduling that mess. And his team has been reminded for more than 100 days of the beating they took from North Carolina way back on Dec. 3, 2008. It was MSU's fourth game in seven days, with Florida travel tied in, and an overnight stay in Detroit, all without Goran Suton.

After the blowout, the first words out of Roy Williams' mouth at the post-game press conference was to forget about this game because that wasn't the real Michigan State. That was a travel-weary Michigan State.

No one listened to Williams. And the game was cited over the past 15 weeks more so than any regular season game I can ever remember.

Only this morning did I begin to hear national analysts point out that Suton didn't play in that game. Why? Because they finally tuned in and watched MSU closely, and Suton finally had to hit them over the head with the reality of his NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional MVP talent.

Oh, that Goran Suton.

Somewhere, Digger might be looking up how many points Suton scored against Michigan. One night earlier, Digger cited the fact that MSU scored only 54 points in a victory in Ann Arbor as reason why the Spartans couldn't possibly hope to run and score with the Cardinals.

You would think this victory might finally educate people on the fact that low scores do not necessarily equate to bad basketball. But it won't happen. They'll be making the same errors next year, when Michigan State is 17-3 or something like that, and ranked No. 11 or so, and scoring in the 50s and 60s against Big Ten teams that know how to slow down Michigan State, not the other way around.

The Big Ten doesn't have the individual talent of the Big East right now, but the Big Ten is clearly the second best basketball conference in the country. The Big Ten will cycle ahead of the Big East next year, with the Big Ten's deep cast of sophomores getting a year older and wiser.

Meanwhile, I have grown to believe that defensive scouting in the Big Ten is the best in the nation. When watching Louisville stammer against Michigan State on Sunday, one got the idea that they hadn't played against a real defense since ... since ... since Minnesota choked them out on Dec. 20. (Note, I must say Louisville lost that game largely to travel woes of their own, having to fly out to meet Minnesota in Arizona on one day's rest.)

The Big Ten drew much criticism for low-scoring games this season. When low scores began to hit the NCAA Tournament, Izzo offered a reason why.

"What you found out in this tournament for the most part is there were a lot of games played with lower numbers," Izzo said. "And it's because possessions matter. It's because people are gonna ratchet up their defense. I think in our league, with the coaches in our league, it's ratcheted up almost year-round."

Izzo doesn't blame Digger or anyone for picking Louisville. Izzo would just like to see sound logic rather than the tired old misconceptions and stereotypes about the Big Ten and low scores.

Izzo doesn't mind all that much if you say his team isn't fast. He'll just enjoy a chance to prove you wrong. But if you say something bad about the entire league, well that's when Izzo wants to fight.

That's part of what made this one different for Izzo. He felt he was carrying the flag of honor for the Big Ten, carrying it all the way to Detroit, arriving there for the struggling people of Michigan.

You would think that a fifth Final Four wouldn't be as emotional as the others. But it was.

The first Final Four was huge, because it was a breakthrough. The second one was big because Izzo wanted Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson to be rewarded for staying in school for their senior year.

The 2001 trip was nice, but almost routine.

"Getting back to the Final Four couple of years ago (in 2005) was important because I think everybody thought it was a three-year and done and that was it," Izzo said. "But this one, I think of the city of Detroit."

Folks, if you know Tom Izzo, you know he is going to have a hard time holding his emotions when he follows his team out onto the court at Ford Field next weekend. With as much as this guy has done and accomplished there aren't many new frontiers for him. But this thing is going to be immense, and he will be humbled, and he will have feelings he has never experienced before. Not for himself, but for his players, for the people of Detroit. Feelings for others move this guy more than anything else. And he's going to feel it like a Joe Louis right hook on Saturday. For Izzo, it will be for Detroit.

This one will always be for Detroit. But this game and achievement in Indianapolis, it was also for Durrell Summers, who went into the USC game on an 0-for-7 streak from 3-point range in MSU's four previous outings, and 3-for-19 overall. He kept working on it, and Izzo kept encouraging him. In practice 10 days ago, Izzo took Summers aside and said, "I want you to think shot when you're about to catch the ball."

Izzo didn't care about the cold streak. To Izzo, the streak could do only one thing. End.

After the Robert Morris game, in which Summers continued to struggle, Izzo flatly said: "We need Durrell. We're going to start facing athletic teams and he's our answer."

He believed in Summers. And Summers went 2-for-3 from 3-point range against Louisville, and 2-for-3 from deep against Kansas.

One of the x-factors became a difference-maker.

**

It was for Kalin Lucas, and the energy he was willing to burn in bringing the ball up against man-to-man pressure and revolving defenders.

It was for Marquise Gray who has seen his playing time slowly decrease, yet his dedication has never wavered. He threw down a dunk in the early going off a Draymond Green duck-in pass, and the bench erupted for him. His teammates gave the Regional Championship trophy to him to carry off the floor and to the locker room.

It was for Suton, and the 3-pointers he shot every day after practice last season.

It was for Travis Walton, the toughest guy in the tournament.

"Travis was absolutely incredible on defense against Terrence Williams," Izzo said. "Incredible."

It was for the former Spartans who, among other things, always tell the current players to listen to what Izzo is saying, and now how he is saying it.

"He probably wants more for me than I want for myself," Walton said of Izzo. "I love him. I'm pretty sure he loves me the same."

Izzo is one of the all-time greats at quality control. He has a way of yelling at these guys and making them put their arm around him while he's cussing them out. Then they hug and cry like long-lost brothers when they've accomplished something big.

On the other bench, Pitino got into an argument with Williams. Williams argued back, which is not allowed at Louisville. Pitino threw his clipboard to the ground and told Williams to vacate one of the time-out seats, which are reserved for members of the playing group. He took Williams out of the game, and Williams - their absolute star player - sat the last five minutes of the first half, with no fouls.

Izzo lit into at least 10 of his guys harder than Pitino got on Williams. But you saw the results. The Spartans line up and fight for Izzo.

"The two best feelings in the world are when your players appreciate how hard you've been on them, and when your players call back, and I had a hell of a night because a lot of guys called from all over the world, and the players, it almost felt like they were saying, 'Now I see why you did this, this and this,'" Izzo said. "I wanted to say,'No kidding.' But that moment is always a cherished moment if you're a coach. You almost need something big to feel like you get it."

**

It was for Jud, who couldn't make it to Indianapolis.

It was for Magic, who received an ovation even from Louisville fans.

It was for whoever taught Goran Suton how to play soccer in Bosnia. Anyone see him kick the ball to himself and then record a lay-up? It turned a loose ball scramble into a Spartan basket, cutting Louisville's lead to 18-17.

It was for Rod Watts who put so much time and care into developing Suton as an assistant high school coach at Lansing Everett.

It was for Bob Weiss, whom we lost two months ago.

It was for Frances Cleaves.

It was for Travis Walton's teammates at Lima High School, who wanted so badly to do well for him when they played at the Izzo Shootout in June of 2004. Walton didn't have an MSU scholarship offer yet. But they supported him, rallied around him, and helped him play like a champion. And he got that scholarship offer. And they still love him, wherever they are.

It was for Draymond Green, losing all that weight, and Mike Vorkapich helping him.

It was for Suton, adding all of that strength, and Mike Vorkapich helping him.

It was for Idong Ibok, always ready.

It was for my dad. I used to phone him just minutes before every NCAA Tournament game. Somehow I knew that call from Winston-Salem, N.C. in 2007 would be the last one. He was a native Kentuckian, an Italian, an all-county basketball player in the '50s, a long-time Pitino fan and a converted Izzo follower. He would have loved this game. Now, instead of a phone call, I usually find a small place in the stadium where no one can see me and cry for about four seconds.

It was for Raymar Morgan, who took off that mask and dared more pain to come because he felt it was best for the team.

It was for the smiles of college kids, having fun playing basketball. When Ibok mistakenly tried to in-bound the ball for Kansas after a Chris Allen free throw on Friday night, Kalin Lucas tried not to crack up while he got back on defense. But Lucas couldn't help it. Nearly 40,000 watching in person, and a million more on TV, the season on the brink of ending, facing the defending national champion, pressure at every turn ... and Lucas was cracking up because I.D. messed up. Just smiling college kids playing basketball.

It was for the MSU fans who made the trip to Indy and took abuse from the non-believers wearing red. Louisville fans were more obtuse than the usual pending victims.

It was for Izzo, when he pointed to his wife and kids with :21 seconds left, just before his tears came.

It was for Izzo, another masterpiece from the Picasso of the modern game.