Geography aside, Final Four teams took the long way

DETROIT — The Final Four road ends here, in Motor City, in a stadium named after one of the Big Three.

Michigan State (30-6) "hosts" Connecticut (31-4) today at Ford Field and Villanova (30-7) takes on North Carolina (32-4).

Distance traveled to get here:

Connecticut: 746 miles.

North Carolina: 701.

Villanova: 572.

Michigan State: 92.

It's been a long trip. Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo lost his voice on the way.

"It's lack of sleep," he said this week. "That's something you don't get much of this time of year, and why would you want any?"

His Spartans are the sentimental favorites as the what-do-you-know? hosts of this event, representing a state crushed by home foreclosures and economic despair. The team's green and white colors have become a rallying cry.

"It's cool to know that you are the hometown favorite," Michigan State freshman forward Draymond Green said.

The first game against Connecticut is not going to be fair. Ford Field, which holds more than 70,000, will be stuffed with Spartans fans. More than 20,000 showed up for Friday's dress rehearsal practice.

This is Izzo's fifth Final Four. His 2000 team won the national title. But there is nothing like playing at home, for everything you've worked for, with a chance to make people in the state feel a little bit better.

Izzo gathered his players before practice at Ford Field and told them to drink it all in.

He said, "Look around, guys, because there are 339 teams that wish they were standing here."

Izzo said, "That's what life's all about, memory making."

Great memories, of course, are better than disappointing ones.

"If they don't look, I'll be disappointed," he said. "If they take too long a look, I'll kill them."

Connecticut's trip has been difficult for different reasons. From day one, they were one of the favorites to get here and, here they are. But none of it has been easy. For Jim Calhoun, who had his third battle with cancer last summer, his third Final Four has been his toughest. His teams won national titles in 1999 and 2004, but a third, this year, might mean the most. Calhoun, suffering from dehydration, missed the first game of the NCAA tournament. As his Huskies weaved through the West, allegations surfaced his program may have violated NCAA rules in the recruitment of Nate Miles, who never played for the Huskies but has left a lasting imprint.