No. 2 Maryland (28-5) vs. No. 3 St. John's (27-8)

Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn.

When: 7: 38 p.m.

TV/Radio: Chs. 13, 9/WBAL (1090 AM), WJFK (1300 AM)

How they got here: Both were at-large selections. Maryland beat 15th seed Valparaiso, 82-60, and 10th seed Creighton, 75-63, in Orlando, where St. John's defeated 14th seed Samford, 69-43, and sixth seed Indiana, 86-61.

Conference records: Maryland was 13-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. St. John's was 14-4 in the Big East.

Rankings: Maryland is No. 5. St. John's is No. 9

Coaches: Gary Williams is 189-116 in 10 seasons at Maryland, 399-245 in 21 seasons overall. Mike Jarvis is 27-8 in his first season at St. John's, 280-149 in 14 seasons overall.

NCAA tournament records: Maryland is making its 16th appearance, and has a record of 21-15. The Terps are looking to advance to a regional final for the third time, the first since 1975. St. John's is in its 24th tournament, and is 25-26. The Red Storm reached the championship game in 1952, and went to the Final Four in 1985.

What Maryland has to do to win: The Terps must continue to push the pace and employ their traps, even if St. John's is well-equipped to handle them. Maryland's defense in the half-court has been underrated, and the Terps need an efficient half-court offense, because transition points might be hard to come by.

What St. John's has to do to win: St. John's likes to do all of the things that Maryland does. The Red Storm has had trouble attacking zones, but that's not a tactic Gary Williams uses often. St. John's gets great rebounding from its smaller players, and its offense relies on dribble penetration.

Bottom line: St. John's will have most of its lineup back next season. The next game could be the last for Steve Francis, Laron Profit and Terrell Stokes, but it was an awfully relaxed Maryland locker room yesterday. This is a matchup worthy of the Final Four, and the winner will be favored to get to the real thing at the Tropicana Dome next week.

Pub Date: 3/18/99