KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It wasn't a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

It just seems that way to Maryland fans.

The Terps last won a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA basketball tournament in 1975. Assistant coach Billy Hahn, a senior that season, remembers that Maryland was sent to Las Cruces, N.M., for the Midwest Regional final. The Terps got past Notre Dame, then came up one game short of the Final Four against Louisville.

Maryland's current players aren't up to speed on the specifics, but they know that they've got a chance to end a long run of NCAA frustration, and place a fine season on the verge of a remarkable one tonight at Thompson-Boling Arena. In the headliner of the third round of the tournament, the Terps meet St. John's in the South Regional.

"I want to get the monkey off my back," senior point guard Terrell Stokes said. "I want to get the monkey off Maryland's back. I want to get over the hump of the Sweet 16. I don't get any more chances after this."

Coach Gary Williams' fifth-ranked Terps can't avoid expectations that they helped build, as they made the Final Four a stated goal last summer.

"We hear about it all the time," Stokes said. "All year, all we've been hearing from everyone is that they think this is our chance, the team that's got a chance to get over the hump, get to the Elite Eight, go to the Final Four.

"That's all we've been hearing all season. We've done a lot of great things, but that's all we've heard about."

Actually, the second-seeded Terps have been taken aback by the rising perception of the third-seeded Red Storm.

In the span of three hours in Orlando last Saturday, St. John's (27-8) vaulted past the Terps in the opinion polls. After the Red Storm demolished Indiana, the 28-5 Terps established a school record for wins, but Maryland turned off some with the way it played down the stretch against Creighton, when a 21-point lead dwindled to 10.

Are the Terps surprised by the manner in which the Red Storm has been christened the region's hot team?

"No," said guard Steve Francis, who made an allusion to media hype. "I'm a prime example of that. We've proved that we're a good team, and we just have to hope that everybody is ready to seize the moment. We want to take everything we've done this season and put it into this game."

Francis' arrival sparked a rise in expectations for Maryland, as the junior-college transfer made the Terps the second-best team in the Atlantic Coast Conference behind Duke, the prohibitive favorite to win the NCAA tournament. Despite a year-ending injury to senior center Obinna Ekezie Feb. 9, Maryland has won nine of its last 10.

Even without Ekezie, Maryland has a size advantage on St. John's, but the Red Storm has played with a ferocity for first-year coach Mike Jarvis. He has an abundance of ball-handlers who can combat full-court pressure, a rotation that could negate the Terps' trademark traps and pressure.

Does that sound like anyone Maryland played this year? Try Duke, which beat the Terps by 18 points in both of their meetings.

"We have several guys who can dribble the ball, and that makes us hard to guard," said freshman Erick Barkley, Stokes' counterpart at the point. "We've got six guys averaging in double figures, and Maryland can't concentrate on any one player."

In sophomore forward Ron Artest, St. John's has an all-around talent who can start the offense or post up, and mark both Francis and sophomore forward Terence Morris.

It also has a blunt one, as Artest told the New York Post that "I've never seen them [Maryland] play a solid half-court game."

While the Terps have had to deal with the absence of Ekezie, St. John's went through a rugged stretch in January without senior post man Tyrone Grant, who missed eight games with a fractured right wrist. Minus Grant, the Red Storm took Duke into overtime, and had narrow losses to Connecticut and Miami.

Like Maryland, St. John's was dominated in its league by a superior team, in its case Connecticut. Like Maryland, St. John's likes to run and press.

Even more so than Maryland, the Red Storm has a bunch of big-city kids who will bicker with each other at times, but leave nothing on the floor.

Francis should match up with Dunbar alum Bootsy Thornton, who wants to "let everyone know he [Francis] is not the only junior-college player that's doing good."

If Morris has to defend Artest on the perimeter, Francis and Stokes must be ready to rebound even better than they have lately.

Stokes and forward Laron Profit are seniors. Francis could turn pro after this season, and all are desperate to prolong the season. This is the most loaded team Williams has had in his 10 years at his alma mater, and he resented the suggestion that Maryland is stuck in the Sweet 16 after six straight losses in this round.

"It doesn't bother me to be in the Sweet 16 four times in six years," Williams said. "Being in the Sweet 16 is never a burden. All we can control is this year. We can't worry about Maryland's basketball history."

The Terps, however, can still make some.

Stuck on 16

This is the sixth team Gary Williams has taken to the Sweet 16, but the first time he has coached a game there with the higher-seeded team.

Year Result

1998 No. 1 Arizona 87,

No. 4 Maryland 79

1995 No. 2 Connecticut 99,

No. 3 Maryland 89

1994 No. 3 Michigan 78,

No. 10 Maryland 71

1985 No. 2 Memphis 59,

No. 11 Bos. College 57

1983 No. 1 Virginia 95,

No. 4 Bos. College 92

Pub Date: 3/18/99