DENVER – Since Syracuse and Maryland survived and advanced through their respective first-round games, the college basketball world began clamoring in anticipation about last night’s matchup between the last two NCAA Tournament national champions at the Pepsi Center vying for a spot in the Sweet 16.

There was a time not long ago, however, that it looked as if the only place these two teams had a chance to meet in the postseason was in the NIT, if that.

The 2002 NCAA champion, Maryland, which entered last night’s game with a 20-11 record, needed a magical run through the ACC Tournament, climaxed with a win over Duke in the final, to assure itself of a mere berth into the NCAAs.

The Terrapins, with their roster laden with underclassmen, were running in place with a 13-10 record entering the final week of the regular season. Six wins in its last seven games, including five in a row, lifted Maryland off the bubble and into a lofty No. 4 seed.

In the three-day ACC Tournament, Maryland defeated three nationally-ranked teams in succession – Wake Forest, North Carolina State and Duke.

“An incredible feat,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said before last night’s game of Maryland’s conference tournament performance.

“The level that they’ve played for the last two or three weeks has been as high as or higher than anybody in the country. They’re playing great basketball right now.”

Typical of Maryland’s struggle this season was its 86-83 escape against UTEP in Thursday’s opening-round game.

Syracuse, which entered last night with a 22-7 record, also struggled in its first-round game, surviving a spirited BYU upset bid before prevailing, 80-75. That game, too, was typical of the struggle the Orangemen have faced this season, when nothing has come easy.

Back in February, Syracuse’s NCAA chances hardly looked good after the Orangemen had lost four of five conference games, allowing an average of 74.5 points in those games.

Looking back at that point, Boeheim conceded that he’d have taken an 8-8 record in the conference to sneak into the NCAAs, hardly fathoming a late-season flurry of five wins in the final six games entering the NCAAs that would give the Orange an 11-5 conference record and a No. 5 seed.

Boeheim looked back on his team’s 49-46 win in Pittsburgh last month as the event that “turned our season.”

“Not many teams in the last few seasons have gone into Pittsburgh and won,” Boeheim said.

Prior to last night, only two other times in the 66-year history of the NCAA Tournament have the previous two national champions met in the tournament. In 1995, 1993 champion North Carolina played 1994 champion Arkansas in the Final Four. And in 1962, Cincinnati, which had won in 1961, played 1960 champion Ohio State for the title.

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The Syracuse-Maryland game was followed last night by a North Carolina-Texas matchup, featuring a Longhorns team that was in the Final Four a year ago and a Tar Heels team with a roster full of first-time NCAA Tournament performers.

PHOENIX REGIONAL

Yesterday’s matchups

Maryland vs. Syracuse (n)

Stanford vs. Alabama (n)

Connecticut vs. DePaul (n)

Stat’s a fact

Maryland had a 13-10 record entering the final week of the regular season. Going into last night they had won six of their last seven, including five in a row.

He said it

“I really rooted hard for Jim [Boeheim] in the tournament [last year], because I know he rooted for me.” – Maryland coach Gary Williams

Today’s game

At Orlando

North Carolina State vs. Vanderbilt, 2:40 p.m.