The Associated Press

PHOENIX - Mark Gottfried never got this far in the NCAA Tournament as a terrific player on some good Alabama teams.

So he, more than most, appreciates this ride on a Crimson tidal wave to the regional final today against Connecticut.

"Alabama is a special place for me," the Crimson Tide coach said Friday. "I wore the uniform and met my wife there, so I am really excited for our program. These guys have taken our program to a place that we've never been.

"We'll be a lot more excited if we can get the job done tomorrow and get to the Final Four."

The eighth-seeded Tide (20-12) beat top-seeded Stanford to get to Phoenix, then knocked off defending NCAA champion Syracuse 80-71 on Thursday night to advance to a regional final for the first time in Alabama history.

"We definitely feel like we are living the life right now, out here in Phoenix, having fun in the sun," 'Bama playmaker Antoine Pettway said. "But at the same time, it is like a business trip. We know we have a job to do."

The next obstacle is UConn, the preseason No. 1 team in the country, an assemblage of talent with the nation's best big man in the middle.

"Man, we're going to have to play close to a perfect game," Pettway said. "One to seven probably, they're the top players in the country. But I think we can pull it off."

Connecticut (30-6), the region's No. 2 seed, outrebounded Vanderbilt 44-21 in its 73-53 pounding of the Commodores on Thursday night. The Huskies, winners of six straight and 11 of their last 12, are healthy and playing like the powerhouse everyone expected them to be.

"I feel the same way as I have all the way through," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "We're good enough to win the national championship. We just have to be good enough tomorrow to win a 40-minute game."

Connecticut is much bigger than Alabama and almost as quick. The Huskies hold teams to 36.7 percent field goal shooting, best in the country. The Tide have no one to counter the Huskies' Emeka Okafor inside.

"My game plan for this game is not going to be any different than for any other game I play," Okafor said. "I'm going to go out and try to play my best. I understand that we're a little bit more physical in the front court than they are, and we're going to try to exploit that."

No. 2 Connecticut vs. No. 8 Alabama

Time: 4:30 p.m.

TV: Ch. 12, 7.

Records: UConn 30-6, Alabama 20-12.

How they got here: UConn d. No. 15 Vermont 70-53, d. No. 7 DePaul 72-55, d. No. 6 Vanderbilt 73-53; Alabama d. No. 9 Southern Illinois 65-64, d. No. 1 Stanford 70-67, d. No. 5 Syracuse 80-71.

What to watch: For the first time this season, UConn will be playing against a team with better athletes. But that won't matter for Alabama unless it's hot from 3-point range (the Tide has hit 38 percent of its 3s this season), and that means Gs Antoine Pettway and Earnest Shelton and Fs Kennedy Winston and Emmett Thomas must produce. Winston is the Tide's best player, and if he struggles to score, Alabama is in trouble. The only consistent low-post threat is Chuck Davis, and he is going to have all sorts of problems getting off his shot against UConn's big people. UConn has been mauling people in the NCAAs, and in G Ben Gordon and C Emeka Okafor, the Huskies have a devastating inside-outside punch. But there also is some nice complementary talent, such as G Rashad Anderson and Fs Denham Brown and Charlie Villanueva. UConn has owned the boards this season (plus 9.6 rebounding margin), and if the Huskies do that tonight, their transition game will hurt the Tide.

Key to the game: UConn's weak link is senior PG Taliek Brown, so look for the Tide to apply a ton of defensive pressure in an attempt to create turnovers. Alabama doesn't score a lot in the low post anyway, and when you throw Okafor into the mix, that means Alabama needs as many easy baskets as it can get.

Projected winner: UConn.

Line: UConn by 8 1/2.

Today's matchup

	UConn	Bama
Record	30-6	20-12
Avg. Pts.	78.5	72.2
Opp. Avg. Pts.	63.1	67.4
Margin	15.4	4.8
FG Pct.	.481	.453
Opp. FG Pct.	.367	.415
3-Pt. FG Pct.	.397	.380
Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.	.325	.353
3-Pt. FG-Game	6.3	7.1
Opp. 3-Pt. FG-Game	5.8	7.3
FT Pct.	.620	.706
Rebound Margin	10.0	0.8
TO Diff.	-1.4	0.5
Avg Steals	6.1	6.6
Avg Blocks	8.3	3.3