Today’s Games

AT SACRAMENTO

North Carolina Wilmington vs. Indiana: The Seahawks of Wilmington provided the NCAA tournament’s biggest upset on the first day of March Madness, beating USC, 93-89, in overtime of a first-round South Regional game. So what’s the message for today, when the Seahawks play fifth-seeded Indiana in a second-round game at Arco Arena? “We’ve had a saying all year,” Coach Jerry Wainwright said. “Dream big, focus small.” The Seahawks will need to be focused to pull off another upset. Indiana is coming off a dominating 75-56 victory over Utah. Today’s winner moves on to Lexington, Ky., for the Sweet 16.

Paul Gutierrez

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AT GREENVILLE, S.C.

Duke vs. Notre Dame: Duke won national titles in 1991 and ’92 while Mike Brey--now the Notre Dame coach--was an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski, who is 13-0 against former Duke assistants. “I hope he’s real uncomfortable over the next 24 hours, and is distracted and feeling guilty,” Brey said. While eighth-seeded Notre Dame has a similar style to Duke and runs some of the same sets, Krzyzewski believes Brey’s inside knowledge of the Duke program is negligible. “We won’t lose because Mike knows my playbook, because I don’t have a playbook,” Krzyzewski said of his free-wheeling team. “We may lose because his kids outplay us.” Some comments from Notre Dame’s David Graves should catch the attention of Duke. “Duke has gotten blown out too this year,” Graves said. “They’re vulnerable and they can be beaten, we understand that. I don’t even think we have to play our best game to beat them. We’ve got to play a solid game and make them uncomfortable, not let them drive and pitch and shoot threes.” The last time Notre Dame advanced past the second round was in 1987. Duke defeated Winthrop, 84-37, in the first round as Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy and Jason Williams combined for 55 points. Notre Dame defeated Charlotte, 82-63, as Matt Carroll and Ryan Humphrey each scored 20 points.

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Alabama vs. Kent State: The patience of Mark Gottfried, the Crimson Tide’s fourth-year coach, has been rewarded. He chose to play several youngsters his first two seasons to see what they could do. “Our talent wasn’t very good,” Gottfried recalled. “We signed a bunch of freshmen, the guys who are now juniors, made the decision to play them early, wanted them to grow with the program.” Erwin Dudley was the Southeastern Conference’s player of the year. Rod Grizzard averages about 15 points. Terrance Mead and Kenny Walker are also key contributors for the Crimson Tide. No. 2 seed Alabama hasn’t advanced past the second round since 1991. The Crimson Tide struggled in its opening-round win over Florida Atlantic, needing 33 points from freshman point guard Maurice Williams to pull out an 86-78 win. No. 10 seed Kent State, meanwhile, will be trying to extend its winning streak to 20 after upsetting Oklahoma State, 69-61, on Thursday.

Associated Press