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As if basketball fans in the Motor City weren’t hyped up enough with the Final Four coming to town, now they’ll have a home team to root for as well. The No. 2-seeded Michigan State Spartans surprised top-seeded Louisville Sunday afternoon, 64-52, to claim the Midwest Region and a trip home to play for the national championship. The Spartans will take on Connecticut in one of two final four match-ups April 4.

North Carolina will face Villanova in the evening’s other semifinal after winning the East Region with Sunday’s 72-60 romp over Oklahoma. Ty Lawson, bad toe and all, led the No. 1-seeded Tar Heels with 19 points, while national player of the year candidate Blake Griffin led all scorers with 23 points for the No. 2-seeded Sooners.

In Detroit, more eyes were on the Spartans, who combined a deliberate offensive attack with their trademark tenacious defense and rebounding to advance to the Final Four for the fifth time in 11 years. Goran Suton led the Spartans with 19 points and 10 rebounds, Durrell Summers scored 12 points off the bench, and Kalin Lucas added 10 points and five assists. The top-seeded Cardinals were led by 19 points from Earl Clark and 11 points from Preston Knowles.

After a handful of Sweet 16 games a day earlier that largely put the basketball-watching population to sleep late in the week, the NCAA men’s tournament returned to delivering excitement Saturday with a pair of memorable games that saw Villanova and Connecticut advance to the Final Four.

In the West regional final, the top-seeded Huskies got past Missouri, 82-75, in Saturday’s first match up, and moved to the Final Four for the third time in the past decade. No. 3 seed Missouri kept it close with a high-pressure, ball-hawking style of play that pestered the UConn backcourt all afternoon. But Kemba Walker (23 points) and the Huskies had too much size, too much strength and too much speed for the Tigers. UConn reached the Elite Eight when it toppled Purdue, 72-60 in its Sweet 16 match up, and Missouri outscored Memphis 102-91.

In the East region, Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds delivered the tournament’s most memorable moment thus far when he scored with 0.5 seconds left to snap a 76-76 tie and give the Wildcats a thrilling 78-76 win over top-ranked Pittsburgh. The No. 3-seeded Wildcats will head to Detroit for the Final Four for the first time since winning the championship in 1985. Villanova made 22 of 23 free throws in the game, Dwayne Anderson led the offense with 17 points and Reynolds finished with 15. Villanova advanced to the Elite Eight with a 77-54 hammering of Duke, and Pittsburgh edged Xavier, 60-55.

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