Marquee coaches face off

Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino are Final Four regulars, and one of them will be back this year even though both of their teams were counted out weeks ago.

Seventh-seeded Michigan State and fourth-seeded Louisville meet today to settle the NCAA Tournament’s most-busted bracket.

“Sure as hell ditting for me, and I’m sure for him,” Izzo said Saturday. “I think we both kind of came through similar kind of years and in different ways.”

The two coaches have four national championships, 15 Final Four appearances and 98 tournament wins between them. Both have had to reinvent their teams in midstream this season.

The Spartans (26-11), the tournament’s lowest remaining seed, lost three of their leading scorers from last season. They looked like an NIT team in February, then went on an 11-3 roll capped by tournament wins over second-seeded Virginia and third-seeded Oklahoma.

The Cardinals (27-8) endured adversity in February. That’s when Pitino had to reinvent his lineup after dismissing senior point guard Chris Jones and replacing him with true freshman Quentin Snider.

“Our team really knows how to handle adversity, and we’ve had a lot of it this year,” Pitino said. “I think adversity always makes you strong.”

Louisville seeks its third Final Four berth in four years.