Some names and numbers from the first day of the NCAA regional finals

Names and numbers from the regional finals

Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo moved into some pretty elite company.

Duke’s Coach K will take a team to the Final Four for the 11th time, moving him into a tie with Dean Smith of North Carolina for second place on the all-time list, one behind UCLA’s John Wooden. Krzyzewski’s first Final Four was in 1986 and his most recent was in 2004.

“We’re ecstatic, proud, feel very honored and privileged to be going to the Final Four,” Krzyzewski said.

Michigan State’s Izzo moved into a three-way tie for fifth-most appearances (6) with Denny Crum of Louisville and Adolph Rupp of Kentucky.

“It’s incredible, the consistency and obviously the expectation,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said of Izzo, who has made all his appearances since 1999.

“You know, I thought that — the accomplishment certainly speaks for itself. And to do it with numbers of different teams. And it’s obviously a great accomplishment. Tom Izzo is probably as accomplished and outstanding a coach as there is in our profession.”

DOUBLE NICKEL: This will be the first Final Four with two No. 5 seeds in it, and they will meet in one of the semifinals.

Michigan State, the No. 5 seed in the Midwest Regional, and Butler, who held the same position in the West, will play Saturday.

Five other No. 5 seeds have reached the Final Four since seeding began in 1979: Iowa in 1980, Mississippi State in 1996, Florida in 2000, Indiana in 2002 and Michigan State in 2005.

None went on to win the national championship.

Michigan State is making its eighth Final Four appearance and Butler its first, but they do have one thing in common: The Spartans played in the Final Four in their home state last year in Detroit, while the Bulldogs will be the first team to play in a Final Four in its home city since UCLA in 1972.

FAMILY FINAL FOUR: Duke junior guard Nolan Smith will get to experience a Final Four like his father did 30 years ago. In the same city, no less.

“It’s definitely a very special win,” said Smith, who had a career-high 29 points in the 78-71 victory over Baylor. “This team has worked so hard starting in the summertime until now. Really working hard, and we have such great team chemistry. We’re having fun playing together. This team from the beginning of this tournament has been living in the moment. Really enjoying every single game, and you know, just playing hard. And it just feels great right now.”

Derek Smith was a sophomore starter on Louisville’s national championship team in 1980. He died in 1996 at age 34, apparently of a heart attack. He played nine seasons in the NBA.

OLD RIVALRY: Saturday’s Final Four meeting between Duke and West Virginia will be the third time the schools meet in the NCAA tournament and the first two were both in the second round.

Duke won in 1989, while West Virginia prevailed in 2008.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski knows just playing Duke is enough to get most teams ready.

“We’ve had a target on our backs for about 25 years since we went to our first Final Four in ‘86,” he said. “So these kids are accustomed to that.”

The other Final Four matchup between Butler and Michigan State will be the first time those schools meet in the NCAA tournament.

SUMMERS’ RELIEF: When Kalin Lucas ruptured his Achilles’ tendon in Michigan State’s second-round win over Maryland, all eyes fell on his replacement at point guard, Korie Lucious.

The player who did the most to replace the 2008-09 Big Ten Player of the Year turned out to be off guard Durrell Summers, who almost doubled his regular-season scoring average in leading the Spartans to a second straight Final Four appearance.

Summers, who came in averaging 10.9 points, scored 80 in the four NCAA tournament games, including 21 on 8-of-10 shooting in the regional final win over Tennessee.

His best outing of the tournament was 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting in the game when Lucas went down in the first half with the season-ending injury.

His biggest shot Sunday was a 3-pointer with 2:52 to play that broke a 66-all tie.

“Well, it was a big shot by Durrell, and we always are looking for him on the perimeter to make those shots because we know what he can do. And he’s a great shooter,” Lucious said.

NO ONES: Duke is the only No. 1 seed to reach the Final Four.

Since seeding started in 1979, only twice had a No. 1 seed not advanced to the Final Four. This will be the 11th time only one No. 1 reached the Final Four and the first since 2004.

Overall No. 1 seed Kansas lost in the second round to Northern Iowa this year, while Syracuse lost to Butler in the regional semifinals and Kentucky lost to West Virginia in the regional final.

None of the No. 1s made it in 1980 and 2006.

CONFERENCE CALL: There will be four different conferences represented in the Final Four for the third time in four years. The Big East had two — Connecticut and Villanova — last year.

From 1999 through 2006, all but one year saw two teams from one conference advance. The Big Ten did it three times in that eight-year stretch, the Atlantic Coast Conference twice and the Big 12 and Southeastern conferences once each.

“I’m just going to say I’m proud to represent Michigan State, and I’m proud to represent the Big Ten, that conference that sometimes gets maligned but always seems to have teams in the Final Four,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said.

ONLY ONE: Butler is this year’s only first-time Final Four participant.

The last first-time entrant in the national semifinals was George Mason in 2006, a Final Four also held in Indianapolis.

Tennessee was trying to make it the first time for two first-timers in the Final Four since 1996, when Mississippi State and Massachusetts made their debuts.

FAST START: The shooting percentages finally caught up with Tennessee.

The Volunteers entered the regional final against Michigan State shooting 31.7 percent for the season from 3-point range, a figure that had them 10th in the 12-team SEC and 239th among the 347 Division I schools.

Against the Spartans, they hit their first five from beyond the arc before the reality of stats showed up. Tennessee, which went 4 of 15 on 3s in the regional semifinal win over Ohio State, made only two of their last 11 attempts, finishing 7 of 16.

“We looked good offensively. We were making shots. We had a really good inside-outside attack going and there was some real flow,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. “In the second half we didn’t get much of a fastbreak.”

TOUGH GOODBYE: The NCAA tournament allows only one team to end the season with a victory. That means even a tremendous season ends on a sour note.

“The toughest part of every season is always just the thought that it’s the last time you’re going to get a chance to coach the team, and last chance they’re together,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “That’s always the toughest, especially when it’s been a real close team, and a team that obviously has done wonders for our program and the school.”

(This version CORRECTS SUBS 4th graf of lede ITEM to CORRECt to Izzo moving into tie for fifth with six Final Four appearances. Roy Williams has seven.)