By Chuck Carlton
The Dallas Morning News

Break out the helmets and shoulder pads. Or throw up a cage.
Two teams enter. One leaves.
In its first Final Four, Texas Tech will be facing maybe the only team in the NCAA tournament that prides itself on toughness and physical play as much as the Red Raiders. Second-seed Michigan State beat Duke 68-67 Sunday in the East Region. Guard Cassius Winston (20 points, 10 assists) dribbed out the final 4.7 seconds evading Blue Devil defenders.
Virginia and Auburn will meet in the first game in Minneapolis at 5:09 p.m. Central time Saturday followed by Tech and Michigan State.
For Texas Tech, there will be no rematch with Duke and wonderkind freshman Zion Williamson in the Final Four. The two had played a high-level December game at Madison Square Garden won by Duke.
Now it’s Michigan State, making its eighth Final Four appearance under coach Tom Izzo and first since 2015. This is Tech’s first trip to the men’s Final Four. Even in the grind-it-out Big Ten, MSU’s physicality stands out, just like Tech’s defensive approach has defined the Red Raiders this season.
“They didn’t give in,” Izzo said. “We might not be as physically as tough as some teams that I”ve had but I think mentally we might be tougher than any team I’ve had.”
Plus a pep talk from former Michigan State great Magic Johnson helped galvanize the team.
“They have a heckuva chance to win it all,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after Sunday’s game.
Texas Tech has held its four NCAA opponents to a combined 91 points under their season scoring averages.
“We take pride in defense — all of our players,” Tech sophomore Jarrett Culver said. “We’re aggressive on defense.”
Said Gonzaga coach Mark Few after the West Region loss: “It’s tough. It’s real.”
Don’t expect Tech to be intimidated. After winning the West, coach Chris Beard talked about how complimentary that Krzyzewski had been after the game this season, evening writing Beard a letter afterward. Tech is more than overachieving bunch of grinders, Beard said.
“We don’t mind the underdog chip-on-the-shoulder part of our story but I think your disrespect our players a little bit,” Beard said. “We got really got college players and I think we’re one of the best teams in the country this year.”
Tech won’t be the only team in Minneapolis trying to adjust to college basketball’s biggest stage. Outside of Michigan State, familiar blue-blood names like Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas and defending champ Villanova are missing.
Like the Red Raiders, Auburn will playing in its first Final Four after outlasting Kentucky in overtime. SEC TV personality Paul Finebaum tweeted: “Auburn is going to the Final Four. And that’s not an early April Fool’s Day joke.”
Virginia has been in the Final Four before but not since 1984 when Ronald Reagan was still in his first term and the Cavaliers had a 6-5 shooting guard named Rick Carlisle, who averaged 11.1 points and shot 52 percent from the field. And yes, he went on to some coaching in the NBA.

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