By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - No one knows for sure, but No. 3-seeded Xavier might have the know-how to scout sixth-seeded Maryland, its second-round opponent today, better than any team outside of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Obviously, Maryland's fellow league members have a deeper understanding of the Terrapins' tendencies, but XU assistants Sean Miller and John Groce possess a little more than just a working knowledge of Maryland's system.

Prior to joining XU's staff last season, Miller spent five seasons as an assistant at North Carolina State under Herb Sendek. Groce was also part of that staff for four years before he took a job as assistant at Butler in 2000, working under current Xavier head coach Thad Matta.

Between the two of them, they have scouted Maryland a combined 24 times, Miller 13 and Groce 11.

"They have such a true system, and they put so much pressure on you offensively and defensively, it helps whether you are a player or a coach to have been through it before," said Miller, who is an associate head coach at Xavier. "Every possession counts against Maryland. Whether it's your ball out on the side, or if they make a free throw and they press, or if you're on defense and by the way they run their offense, every single possession matters against them because they attack. They are in constant attacking mode."

It's one thing for possessions to be important in the regular season, but in the NCAA Tournament, execution on both ends of the court can mean the difference between moving on or the end of a season.

"It does matter in the NCAA Tournament," Groce said. "Because each possession counts for so much."

SIZE VS. SIZE: Xavier and Maryland match up evenly in the post as far as size is concerned. All-American David West, at 6 feet 9, probably will draw 6-10 Tahj Holden. Xavier's Anthony Myles and Maryland's Ryan Randle are both 6-9 and around 240 pounds.

Both of Maryland's guards, Steve Blake and Drew Nicholas, are 6-3. That's 3 inches taller than Lionel Chalmers and 2 inches taller than Dedrick Finn. But Chalmers and Finn each outweighs his counterpart by 10-15 pounds.

"Nicholas and Blake are both very good players," Miller said. "Matching up with Finn and Lionel on those two guys, obviously it's going to be a tremendous challenge, but physically they're OK. And then with (Romain) Sato, Romain is sort of the X-factor for us. Romain can guard a variety of different guys. He doesn't take a backseat to anybody."

TO ZONE OR NOT TO ZONE: West has said recently that it's harder for him to get going against a zone defense, and his numbers in the last two games support that case. He scored 12 points Friday against Troy State and 12 points against Temple March 14, eight points below his average.

That doesn't necessarily mean Maryland will come out in a zone even though the Terrapins relied on a zone defense to beat UNC Wilmington Friday night.

"We're pretty much a man-to-man team," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "(Friday), Steve Blake got in foul trouble early, and we went zone. It kind of turned the game around in the first half, because it allowed us to get Wilmington off the free throw line and we were able to take the lead at the end of the half. But we didn't practice zone much, and all we care about is winning this one game."