But with LSU (28-6), the season began with the shooting death of forward Wayde Sims in late September. On March 8, the university suspended coach Will Wade, who has been subpoenaed under the FBI's investigation of widespread corruption in college basketball.

Assistant Tony Benford was appointed as the team's interim coach and helped third-seeded LSU secure the Southeastern Conference regular season title and advance to its first Sweet 16 since 2006 after beating sixth-seeded Maryland last week.

Benford, who's 3-1 since taking over and spent five seasons as the head coach at North Texas, said even with all the tumult he's appreciated the "buy-in factor" from a Tigers team starting two underclassmen.

"They trust one another," Benford said. "They love one another. They respect one another. I think that helps."

When asked how adversity can bring teams together, Izzo, 64 and in his 24th season with MSU said it's up to an individual to handle hardships.

And given the circumstances for both sides, they've handled them well.

"It just depends on the different rallying abilities of each team, of each individual person," Izzo said, who dealt with a slew of off-field issues concerning MSU last season. "And that is so individually rated. It's hard to say that this team should be able to handle it; this team shouldn't. I've had a lot of good teams. I'm not sure I've had any that would handle this adversity this year with those injuries."

But, a murdered teammate rarely happens, at any level. Tigers shooting guard Skylar Mays said even though teammates have dedicated the season in Sims' memory, reports of the FBI probe have also brought the team closer.

"Me, personally, I haven't gotten past what happened to Wayde," Mays said. "I'll never get past what happened to Wayde. I'm pretty sure I could say the same for all these guys. With what happened with Coach Wade, we'll have to just move forward because that's something that none of us can control. And we're out here to play basketball for the university."

Sims would have entered the season as a junior. The 6 foot, 6 inch forward averaged 5.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game with 10 starts in 32 games.

"It's been about Wayde this entire year," Benford said. "And it will be. I told these guys, the rest of their life, they'll never forget Wayde Sims."