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Michigan State vs. Duke: The numbers

Patrick McDermott

Two titans meet in the Sweet 16 on Friday when MSU and Duke meet in Indianapolis at 9:45 p.m.

Let's take a look at how these programs match up historically.


MSU Duke

First season

1898 1906

Wins

1,550 2,000

National championships

2 4

Final Fours

8 15

Conference championships

13 22
Conference tournament
championships
3 24
Head-to-head wins 2 7

Head-to-head NCAA Tournament
wins

1 2

(numbers via College Basketball Reference)

Duke is obviously one of the most successful programs of all-time, and there is some history for both programs before the current coaches, but Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo are two of the most-synonymous coaches with their current programs, and Coach K has 15 more years at Duke than Izzo has at MSU. The ACC Tournament also is much older than the Big Ten.

MSU and Duke are two of 14 programs to win multiple national championships. They are two of nine schools to make at least eight Final Fours.

Here are the all-time results between these teams:

Dec. 29, 1958 (Neutral site): MSU 82-57

March 20, 1994 (Neutral): Duke 85-74

Dec. 2, 1998 (Neutral): Duke 73-67

March 27, 1999 (Neutral): Duke 68-62

Dec. 3, 2003 (at MSU): Duke 72-50

Nov. 30, 2004 (at Duke): Duke 81-74

March 25, 2005 (Neutral): MSU 78-68

Dec. 1, 2010 (at Duke): Duke 84-79

Nov. 15, 2011 (Neutral): Duke 74-69
--

Izzo is 1-6 against Krzyzewski all-time, including 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament. I talk about what a win Friday would mean to him in my latest Freep guest column.

You can watch Izzo's press conference below. Some notable quotes are transcribed.

-- "Looking at some of the things between us and Duke, the last 15 years, which I said 10 to 15 years is how you have to evaluate in this day and age where your program is, there are some pretty impressive things here. I just wish I had 40 days to enjoy it like you do in a bowl game instead of four or five. There's no question, if you look at the NCAA Tournament and what's been done, nobody's Duke, because Duke is Duke. We are one of the closest things to it as far as consistency, and that should make for an incredible game."

-- "In looking at Duke, you know, let's face it, they are a No. 1 seed without Kelly, if one or two things didn't happen in the end. You definitely with him, this is a team that's (20-1) and been a 1 seed all along with him. Not that it really matters at this point in time of the tournament. But what does matter is just shooting over 40 percent from the 3 as a team and they have got five guys that shoot over 40 percent, at 38 percent and that's impressive. I just think they are extremely well coached. They do not turn the ball over much. They do not make many mistakes. They do not have maybe the great depth, although last night I was impressed with the two subs, (Amile) Jefferson and (Josh) Hairston that came in, and, yeah, did a great job for them, but their depth is not maybe a strength of their team in general. And you had size and they have got a stretch four, and they have got three really good guards.

"Yet I do think we match up with them. Whether we can matchup and play with them, we are going find out, but we at least (we) match up with them fairly well. So you know, I've had appreciation for that program my whole career. Started when we played them in the game in Chicago (in 1998) and that led to the game in Tampa (in 1999), and it has not changed since.

"So I know what kind of program they have. I know how they do things and I appreciate them and I look up to them in that respect and yet it's time now to play them and I feel a little differently about that, so I'm looking forward to the challenge."

-- "I look at what it has been like in the last 16 seasons since our first one, and only Duke has more Sweet 16 appearances as we know with 13, and we have 11. But that puts us in rare air. I guess the hardest thing that I have to do is maybe look at that and feel good about it. I said the day will come when I'll be able to feel great about it. Sometimes I look at it and say, boy, I don't even appreciate it myself so why should I expect someone else to appreciate it. I have to find that happy medium in there somewhere.

"You know, maybe it will be Friday night after because I think it's important now that you get into this tournament and if the upsets happen and everything, it still usually gets down to the marquee teams and I think this will be one of the best matchups there will be. That's what you want to play for. That's if you want to be in it. I think we've earned that over our 15, 16 years of real great success, and so I'm anxious to see how that fairs for us."

-- "They are usually a team that's very stingy defensively. And yet, they always have been a great rebounding team, and this year, I wouldn't say they are great, but I would say they are pretty solid if you get, you know, their horse back in there. Remember they played 13 games without one of their best defenders and without one of their better rebounders. So when you look at their stats even defensively, they are not quite Duke-ish but ours have not been quite Michigan State-ish either, if you look at stats, both in rebounding and in defense and field goal percentage.

"But if you look at what's going to win for them, what won for them the other night, they checked their tail off against Creighton. I thought that was a very good defensive game and they are rebounding better now in the tournament, because I think he's (Kelly) back. And I just think that they have, "It". They believe in themselves in the tournament.

"It's part of the process there. He's built that over 33, 34, 35 years, however long he's been there. And I guess what I've always respected about him is I respected anybody who can do it over a period of time. To do it at the same school for that length of time, there's only a few people in the country that I've ever known that have done that."