What To Look For

* Florida (22-8) vs. Gonzaga (27-6): A young man wearing Florida basketball sweats stepped on an elevator at a Phoenix hotel this week and was the object of stares from several other passengers. Finally, somebody gathered the courage to ask the kid a question. “So, uh, is Gonzaga staying here too?” the man said. The kid grimaced. It has been that way for the Gators since they completed their second consecutive comeback victory in Seattle last weekend to advance to the Sweet 16. Most are cheering for little-known Gonzaga, a 10th-seeded team from the West Coast Conference. Many wonder how Florida, despite its fastbreaks and full-court presses, can run away from destiny. Or Gonzaga guards Quentin Hall and Matt Santangelo. “Our kids take exception to the ‘Cinderella’ title,” Bulldog Coach Dan Monson said. “With Cinderella, there is always a midnight. We’re not thinking about a midnight.” Nor should they be. The Bulldogs can--and perhaps should--win this game. Florida was seeded four spots higher than Gonzaga but often plays out of control. Florida is also more athletic, led by senior guard Eddie Shannon and senior forward Greg Stolt. But relying strictly on this athleticism caused them to suffer halftime deficits of 11 points to Penn and five points to Weber State in the first two rounds. Gonzaga led at halftime against Minnesota and No. 2-seeded Stanford and didn’t blow either lead.

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Connecticut (30-2) vs. Iowa (20-9): The emotion belongs to Iowa, playing hard for Coach Tom Davis as he works his 13th and final season here after his contract was not renewed last spring. Iowa officials have apparently been so embarrassed that a coach they dumped has been so successful in a lame-duck season, neither the school’s athletic director nor president has bothered to congratulate Davis, according to the coach. The players, however, have been energized, using suffocating defense (38% shooting by opponents) and nifty shooting (48% from three-point range) to beat Alabama Birmingham and Arkansas in the first two rounds. Said Iowa guard Kent McCausland: “What has happened has given us a little edge, a little something extra to fight for.” That said, the No. 5-seeded Hawkeyes are in for a heck of a fight against top-seeded Connecticut, which has won two tournament games by an average of 23.5 points. Khalid El-Amin, guard and team leader, acknowledged this team is already thinking about bigger battles. “We’d be kidding ourselves if we didn’t say we have the NCAA national championship in our sights,” he said. “I don’t think there is any pressure on us. We’ve been there, done that.” Well, not all that. Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun has never had a team reach the Final Four. Sometime this weekend, the Huskies probably will start to feel the pressure of breaking new ground. But not in this game.