Now the pressure is on Michigan State.

Since the NCAA Tournament started seeding teams back in 1979, only once -- in 1980 -- has nary a top-seeded team reached the Final Four.

When Duke lost to Florida Friday and joined Stanford and Arizona as top seeds in the tank, that left Michigan State as the only No. 1 seed still playing.

As fate would have it, Saturday the Spartans play the only No. 2 seed remaining; they take on Iowa State for the Midwest Regional championship and the right to go to the Final Four.

All that is left for this Final Four is to replace the 1980 event as the all-time oddball.

The 1980 Final Four, also played in Indianapolis, featured No. 5 Iowa, No. 6 Purdue, No. 8 UCLA and No. 2 Louisville. That's a combined seed count of 21 -- far and away the highest ever.

Thanks to the upset-crazy West and South Regions, next week's Final Four already is guaranteed combined seedings of at least 17 ... with a No. 6 or lower coming out of the South and West and No. 3 Oklahoma State the higher seed remaining outside the Midwest.

The count could reach as high as 23, should No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 5 Florida and No. 2 Iowa State land in Indy.

Stars of the Sweet 16

• Joseph Forte, North Carolina: The freshman continues to play like a senior, scoring 22 points on 8 of 13 shooting. In his three tourney games, Forte is averaging 17.3 points and is shooting 41 percent (5 of 12) from 3-point range
• Morris Peterson, Michigan State: After a rather ordinary first couple rounds, the 6-7 senior came up large against Syracuse on Thursday, scoring 21 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range.
• Mateen Cleaves, Michigan State: Scored 10 points and dished seven assists Thursday, but his game, as usual, was bigger than the stat sheet, as he hit a pair of big 3-pointers to key the Spartans' decisive second-half run.
• Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa State: The junior point guard just missed a triple-double, scoring 14 points, dishing 11 assists and pulling down nine rebounds as the Cyclones blew out UCLA and moved to within one game from their first Final Four since 1944.
• Brandon Kurtz, Tulsa: The senior center led the Golden Hurricane's steady attack Friday, scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds to move Tulsa into its first regional final.

Dry spells spell doom

Late-game defense proved more than decisive for three teams in the Sweet 16. Florida, North Carolina and Michigan State choked the life out of their opponents and are moving into the regional finals because of it:

• Florida: Duke led 78-74 with 3:56 to play but did not score again as the Gators ran off with it. The Blue Devils did not make a basket in the final 5:05 of the game.
• North Carolina: C.J. Black scored the last two buckets of the game for Tennessee. The first came on a hook shot with 7:23 to play and gave the Volunteers a 59-53 advantage. The last came 7:20 later and didn't make an ounce of difference in a game that was already decided.
• Michigan State: After the Spartans had assumed the lead with a furious rally to overcome a 13-point Syracuse advantage, Jason Hart hit a layin with 5:55 to pull the Orangemen even with MSU. That would be Syracuse's last point of the game as the Spartans went on a 17-0 run to close.

Keeping Tobacco Road open

Had they held on to beat North Carolina, Tennessee would have accomplished a rare feat -- setting up an Elite Eight involving neither UNC or Duke. The Blue Devils or Tar Heels have participated in a regional final in 21 of the past 23 NCAA Tournaments.

The only years both teams have been ousted before the Elite Eight was 1996 and 1984.

Should North Carolina defeat Tulsa in Sunday's South Regional Final, it would be the 13th time in the past 15 years that either Duke or UNC has been in the Final Four.

Something still to learn

It's not as easy to dominate in the NCAA Tournament as Ty Shine made it look in the second-round. He proved it against Oklahoma State.

After scoring 26 points on 7 of 11 3-point shooting against Temple last weekend, the sophomore started in place of injured Shaheen Holloway hit just 2 of 10 from beyond the arc and scored 11 points against OSU.

Shine wasn't the only Pirate youngster to find the going tough against OSU, as his sophomore backcourt mate, Darius Lane, made his struggles look mild. Lane scored 16 points, but was 7-for-24 -- including a miserable 2-of-18 from 3-point range.

Golden against the Hurricanes

Tulsa doesn't have a high-scoring player, but the Golden Hurricane can put up points. They proved that in their 80-71 win over Miami, becoming the first team since late December to crack the 80-point barrier against Hamilton's team and just the third team all season to accomplish the feat.

Shooting them out ... of the tourney

It all comes down to the outside shot for Gonzaga.

In the first round against Louisville, Richie Frahm was on fire, knocking down 9 of 14 and 4 of 8 from 3-point range for 31 points. In the second round against St. John's, Frahm was off, but Santangelo held down the fort, dropping in 8 of 14 and 6 of 10 for 26 points.

Then came the meltdown against Purdue, when the duo combined for just 9 of 30 from the floor and 2 of 13 from 3-point range to combine for 23 points. If it seemed familiar, it should have. When the Zags bowed a season ago to UConn in the Regional Finals, Frahm and Santangelo were a combined 3-for-20, including 1-for-11 from 3-point range, for just nine points.

The West isn't best

With UCLA sent packing Thursday by Iowa State, it means Oklahoma State is the western-most team remaining in the tournament.

We looked it up: Stillwater, Okla., is actually closer to the Atlantic Ocean than the Pacific.

Defensive demons

With their 61-48 win over Louisiana State on Thursday, the Wisconsin Badgers advanced to the Regional Final without breaking the 70-point mark in a tournament game. Only two teams have done that since shot clock was implemented in 1987.

In 1996, Mississippi State and Wake Forest both made the regional final, with neither scoring higher than 65 points in a game. But there's a difference: Those two teams had monster shot blockers in Erick Dampier (MSU) and Tim Duncan (Wake Forest) -- something the Badgers don't have, and apparently don't need.

Big Ten? Make it big 15

With Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan State now in the regional finals -- and the conference guaranteed at least one Final Four berth -- the Big Ten has put itself in position to break its own record for most wins in an NCAA Tournament.

In 1989, the Big Ten won 15 games. The league has won 12 games, is guaranteed a 13th with the Purdue-Wisconsin matchup in the West Regional final, and would become 14 if Michigan State gets past Iowa State. Then MSU would meet the West Regional champ in a national semifinal for No. 15 ... and then the winner of that game would need to win the championship game for No. 16.

Here's a look at the conferences who reached the Sweet 16 and how they're doing: