The Duke Blue Devils are into the Sweet 16 once again and they may face off against the Michigan State Spartans without one of their top assistants, as Chris Collins is close to a deal with Northwestern.

According to ESPN.com, Collins and the Wildcats are moving close to a deal that would bring in the assistant as the new head coach at Northwestern. Sources told senior writer Andy Katz on Wednesday about the deal and said that it would not come to a close until after the Blue Devils are done playing this season.

Duke is a number two seed taking on the number three Spartans after defeating Albany and Creighton and are trying to get into the Elite 8 out of the Midwest region. Collins is the son of NBA head coach Doug Collins and is looked at as the favorite for a team that has not been into the NCAA tournament in 13 seasons.

Collins has spent a number of years learning under Mike Krzyzewski and was a former player for the Blue Devils. He was key in getting recruits Jon Scheyer and Sean Dockery and has been a valuable assistant for the team for a number of seasons.

Prediction: Duke loses to Spartans, but it's very close. The Blue Devils could easily take this game with some big play from Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, but Seth Curry will need to step his game up after struggling recently. The Spartans play tough defense and are experienced deep in the tournament and that will propel them into the Elite Eight.