Michigan State coach Tom Izzo proudly waved the Big Ten flag.
"There's the ACC, Big East, Big 12, SEC, the Pac-10, they're all great conferences," Izzo said. "They have great teams, great players. Just sometimes possessions seem to matter a little bit more in the Big Ten.
"I do stick up for our league. I do get, I guess, disappointed sometimes that we seem to get picked on. And I'll put our coaches up against anybody in the country."
Butler bodysurfing
Butler players were asked about the most unusual thing they've seen as Final Four participants. Guard Ronald Nored saw one.
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"Our president (Bobby Fong) bodysurfed," Nored said. "I don't know how many presidents of universities you see trusting their students enough to be in their hands without a chance of falling and breaking some bones."
Mazzulla's big game
West Virginia guard Joe Mazzulla came up big in the East Regional, especially when he scored 17 points against Kentucky . But that wasn't his first big game in the NCAA Tournament. Two years ago, when the Mountaineers beat Duke in the second round, Mazzulla had 13 points and 11 rebounds. He's also remembered for an inspirational floor slap in that game.
"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," Mazzulla said. "You get caught up in the emotions."
Huggy in Cincy
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was tossed out of Cincinnati four years ago. He landed nicely at Kansas State, but he continues to have fond memories of the Queen City.
"Cincinnati is a great town, it's a great sports town," Huggins said. "Hopefully over the years we gave them a lot to be proud of. As you know, I had countless opportunities to leave, and I didn't want to leave because I didn't want to leave the city."
Duke likely to be on attack against zone
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Duke figures to be smarter attacking West Virginia's 1-3-1 zone than Kentucky, which constantly missed from deep. The Blue Devils had practice last weekend against Baylor's 2-3 zone in the South Regional final .
"I think we're going to try and attack it more," Blue Devils center Brian Zoubek said. "We have to be more aggressive than we were against Baylor.
"We got stood up. We kind of just stood around passing on the perimeter. We have to get it inside as much as possible."
Call Coach K a big fan of the college game
Nobody speaks more passionately about the college game than Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"There's not one player or one coach who is bigger than the college game," Krzyzewski said. "With LeBron and Kobe, people want to watch them and they're great, and the NBA has that market. But college has its own market, and it should always be promoted as the team, the tradition."
