EAST REGIONAL

* Thankfully, unlike the football bowl games, there’s no corporate sponsorship in the NCAA basketball tournament. The Dean Smith Sweet 16 is as close as it gets. North Carolina has made it to this round in 14 of the last 15 years, but won’t be getting a free pass this time. The Tar Heels played very un-Smith-like basketball in fading down the ACC stretch. Texas Tech has no such NCAA tradition, having never advanced to the Sweet 16 and winning only four of 14 first-round games. But the Red Raiders have forward Jason Sasser, who could send the Tar Heels reeling to the canvas with his in-the-paint moves.

* New Mexico went a long time without winning an NCAA tournament game--22 years--before its first-round dispatching of Kansas State. What might seem longer, though, is watching the Lobo guards trying to work their way through a maze of Georgetown defenders. And if they are able to complete that mission, there’s no guarantee they will be able to get the ball in the capable hands of Kenny Thomas, one of the nation’s best baseline scorers. The Hoyas could be long gone to the Sweet 16 by halftime.