What to Look For

* How they got there: North Carolina shot down Navy, then beat fiercely emotional UNC Charlotte. With Antawn Jamison wrapped up against Charlotte, guard Shammond Williams had 32 points and forward Vince Carter used his athleticism to help North Carolina survive in overtime, 93-83. Teams that win the title usually have a close call. The Tar Heels hope this was their’s.

Michigan State and sophomore point guard Mateen Cleaves recovered from two unsettling losses just before the NCAA tournament, one of them a Big Ten tournament upset by Minnesota. The Spartans are doing it with defense. They shut down Eastern Michigan’s Earl Boykins and played a savvy defensive game to narrowly end Princeton’s season. Besides that, Cleaves is tough to stop.

Washington slipped into the tournament only because of its slim late-season victory over UCLA, but the Huskies backed it up by becoming one of four Pacific 10 teams in the Sweet 16, the most of any conference. They upset Xavier to gain the second round, where they reaped the benefits of South Carolina’s stunning loss to Richmond and beat the Spiders by 15.

Connecticut let Fairleigh Dickinson hang around in an eight-point first-round victory, but beat Indiana by 10 points after a trademark offensive surge in the second half. Stocky freshman point guard Khalid El-Amin and skinny sophomore swingman Richard Hamilton are scorers, and these Huskies love to pour on full-court defensive pressure.

* Difference-maker: Jamison is the obvious national player of the year, and even when he was effectively taken out of the game by UNC Charlotte, he still finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Put too much emphasis on him, though, and the door is wide open for Williams and Carter.

* Four questions: North Carolina teeters fairly often, but can the Tar Heels be felled?

Who will shut down Washington’s 7-foot center, Todd MacCulloch, who was inconsistent during the season but has 47 points and 26 rebounds in two postseason games?

Can broadcasters handle the Huskies vs. Huskies game between UConn and Washington?

Which Mateen Cleaves will show: the one whose speed, passing and shooting buried Princeton, or the one who went two for 18 in the Big Ten tournament?

* Looking forward to: Connecticut’s press against North Carolina’s press-breaking attack, and the Greensboro crowd’s reaction to Vince Carter’s acrobatic dunks if North Carolina can make the right passes.

* A glimpse at the coaches: Soon we’ll be wondering how many games North Carolina’s Bill Guthridge might have won if he hadn’t chosen to spend 30 years sitting beside Dean Smith in Chapel Hill. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, heretofore best known for being San Francisco 49er Coach Steve Mariucci’s best friend, distinguished himself with his tactics after one day’s preparation for Princeton. Washington’s Bob Bender knows NCAA tournaments. He played on Indiana’s undefeated 1976 championship team and Duke’s ’78 Final Four team and is a former Duke assistant to Mike Krzyzewski. Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun has taken the Huskies to two regional finals, but has yet to make a Final Four.

* How it shakes out: Michigan State doesn’t have enough offensive weapons to beat North Carolina, Washington is smoked by Connecticut’s pressure and speed--remember what Connecticut did to Stanford?--and North Carolina edges Connecticut to reach its fifth Final Four in eight years.