COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : No Sparks Fly as Indiana Beats Temple : East: Coaches Knight and Chaney hug instead of fighting as the Hoosiers advance, 67-58.

In case you are wondering, Indiana beat Temple, 67-58, and now advances to the East Regional semifinal in Miami, where the Hoosiers will play Boston College.

But enough of that. America wants to know about the Mt. Vesuvius Twins, Indiana Coach Bob Knight and Temple Coach John Chaney. The two lovable newsmakers faced each other Sunday for the first time in their combined 51 years of coaching, which prompted all sorts of pregame hoopla and speculation.

Would Knight unveil the notorious bullwhip for old times’ sake?

Would Chaney issue any more “I’ll-kill-you” threats?

And, oh, yes, would Indiana be able to solve Temple’s famed matchup zone and would the Owls be able to continue to survive on the play of guards Eddie Jones and Aaron McKie?

As it turned out, the answers were less exciting than the questions.

To watch the pre-tipoff hug-fest between Knight and Chaney was to think the two men were lifelong friends. As cameras clicked away and the crowd watched with mouths agape, Knight put his arm around Chaney and began talking into his ear. Chaney nodded a lot, hugged Knight back, then left.

But rather than return to his bench, the disoriented Chaney started to walk toward the Hoosiers before realizing his mistake.

Chaney can be forgiven for being a little lightheaded. Not only did he have to deal with Knight’s unexpected display of public affection and respect, he also had to beat the solid Hoosiers with only three weapons: his beloved matchup zone and Jones and McKie.

It wasn’t near enough. Jones scored 24 points and McKie contributed 18, but the rest of the fourth-seeded Owls were on spring vacation. No other Temple player broke double digits and that includes point guard Rick Brunson, who checked out with a three-of-12 day from the field, and much-maligned center William Cunningham, who scored eight points and had seven rebounds in the first half, one point and two rebounds in the second half.

Fifth-seeded Indiana had its own problems, but not as many as Temple. Point guard Damon Bailey had a pulled muscle in his side, forward Brian Evans was playing despite a brace on his right shoulder, forward Pat Graham was running with a presumed broken foot and later, freshman guard Sherron Wilkerson (of Knight head-butt fame) suffered a broken leg five minutes into the second half.

But the Hoosiers did have two distinct advantages: An actual bench and the best three-point shooting (by percentage) team in the country.

It showed, too, as the Hoosiers made 10 of their 20 three-pointers and placed four players in double figures. Evans had 18, Alan Henderson had 12, Todd Leary, who was benched at the start of the second half, but returned when Wilkerson was hurt, had 15 and Graham had 11.

Temple stayed closed until midway through the second half. But Jones and McKie couldn’t do everything, although they tried.

Afterward, Chaney tried to remain philosophical. If nothing else, he will always have The Hug.

“Facing Bobby Knight today was something that . . . only Bobby Knight and myself . . . could appreciate,” he said. “It was a great pleasure to go up against a master in this business.

“We (Knight and Chaney) felt like warriors ourselves. I wish I could have shot a jump shot, though.”