The Associated Press

DENVER - Maryland doesn't need to study game film to figure out where its focus needs to be against Syracuse. The way Gerry McNamara shoots in the NCAA Tournament, it's obvious.

Sure, the Terrapins will need to pay attention to Hakim Warrick and some of the other Orangemen, but stopping the sharp-shooting McNamara will be a top priority in the second round of the Phoenix Regional.

It won't be easy.

McNamara made a name for himself in last year's NCAA championship game, hitting six 3-pointers against Kansas to help Syracuse win its first national title. He kept it going in Thursday's first round against Brigham Young, adding nine more 3s and scoring 43 points in an 80-75 victory.

McNamara is 15-for-23 from 3-point range in his last two NCAA Tournament games.

"I don't think you have to be a basketball coach to realize you have to stop McNamara after what he did," Maryland coach Gary Williams said Friday. "That was one of the great shows I've ever seen."

The Orangemen (22-7), the fifth seed, might need an encore to get by fourth-seeded Maryland.

The Terrapins (24-7) were in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade but closed the season with wins over North Carolina State and Virginia before beating three ranked teams to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed.

Maryland didn't slow down once the NCAA Tournament started, hitting key shots down the stretch to hold off pesky Texas-El Paso 86-83 in Thursday's first round.

The Terps are young, with four sophomores starting and Mike Grinnon the only holdover from the 2002 championship team, but they're confident and athletic. Maryland also has never lost to Syracuse in five tries, with the most recent win coming in 1980.

"It's not one or two guys that you can stop and think you're going to be all right," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "They've got different guys that can hurt you. Their size hurts us, their depth hurts us and just the level that they've played at the last three weeks at times has been higher than anybody in the country."

The game will be just the third between the two previous national champions in NCAA Tournament history and first since 1994 champ Arkansas beat 1993 title winner North Carolina in the 1995 semifinals.

The second game today in Denver pits Texas (24-7) against North Carolina (19-10) in the Atlanta Regional. The teams don't have much of a history - North Carolina leads the series 2-1 - but Longhorns coach Rick Barnes certainly has had his run-ins against the Tar Heels.

Barnes coached four years at Clemson before moving to Austin in 1998 and his feisty nature rubbed North Carolina and its fans the wrong way.