The Associated Press

Small pockets of Oklahoma State fans who made the trip to East Rutherford stood out in their bright orange shirts against Pittsburgh, but they might get lost today in a sea of red against Saint Joseph's.

"Maybe they can yell louder than Saint Joseph's fans," Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said.

The second-seeded Cowboys played their subregional games in Kansas City, Mo., and hoped to advance to the St. Louis regional.

Instead, fourth-seeded Kansas, which lost to the Cowboys in their only meeting, was kept close to home.

Not that the Cowboys are complaining too loudly - they won two games in East Rutherford in 1995 to advance to the Final Four.

"I wish we could have gone from Kansas City to St. Louis, because then we would have had a big advantage as far as fans are concerned," Sutton said. "We've had great success here. The last time we were at the Final Four, we beat two teams that certainly were every bit as good as the teams that are here now."

SHORT REST: Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli had a good reason for looking tired Friday. He had slept only an hour since the Hawks beat Wake Forest to advance to the regional final.

After the win, Martelli met with Saint Joe's director of basketball operations and athletic director Don DiJulia to set the schedule for the next two days before heading back to the hotel.

The Hawks arrived to a lobby full of fans, then had a team meeting and a late dinner - or is that early breakfast? - at 2 a.m.

The players were sent to their rooms by 2:30 a.m., but Martelli stayed up, returning phone calls to various radio shows before starting film work around 3 a.m.

He didn't sleep until 8:15 a.m. He was up at 9:15 a.m. to write the scouting report. Then it was breakfast, a film session and back to the arena.

"I would only suggest to you that once in your life you should see the sunrise in Secaucus," Martelli said. "I can now describe that to you."

RED SHOES: Antoine Pettway's new red shoes are making him slip, so the Alabama star is considering wearing something else when the Crimson Tide take on Connecticut in the Phoenix Regional final today.

"I might need to take them off. I was slipping and (Syracuse's Gerry) McNamara was hitting 3s," said Pettway, who began wearing the shiny red sneakers during his sophomore season and is on his fourth pair. "I don't think they help us win, but I just like playing in them because they're light."

Pettway hears references to Dorothy of The Wizard of Oz whenever he's wearing his trademark shoes, but as long as 'Bama keeps on winning, he can handle the razzing.

The Crimson Tide have reached a regional final for the first time in school history.

A Final Four trip would be much sweeter for Pettway, the team's senior point guard.

"That would be the real big show," he said. "We can't be satisfied with the Elite Eight."