European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday March 182007 stars and stripes Pace 45 tar heels make impressive debut masked Man Hansbrough paces top seeds Romp Over e Kentucky by Aaron Beard the associated press Winston Salem no North Carolina opened the Mcaa tournament looking every bit As impressive As that no 1 seed indicated from Tyler Hansbrough scoring inside to to Lawson Lead ing an uptempo attack the tar heels also showed a tendency to let their intensity and focus that coach Roy Williams sounded too worried in not going to go Back to the hotel room and Lay awake and look at the ceiling the coach said after North Carolinas 8665 Victory Over Eastern Kentucky in the first round of the East regional on thursday All year Long we can play really Well during stretches but we have some bad stretches Hansbrough had 21 Points and 10 rebounds to Lead tar heels who gave Williams an inca record 18 straight years with at least one tournament Victory re Shawn Terry added 18 Points on 8for9 shooting setting up a Date with ninth seeded Mich Igan state on saturday in a re match of the 2005 final four still it was an emotional Day for Williams whose sister died wednesday night after a lengthy Battle with alzheimer disease he was on the sideline As always surpassing Mentor Dean Smiths Mark of 17 straight years with at least one Mcaa Victory Williams said he Doest expect to miss any time with the team during the tournament with funeral services expected to be held sunday or monday it was a difficult Day no ques Tion about that he said right now basketball items Are the things that keep me going North Carolina jumped to a 27point Lead in the first half but ended up needing almost the entire second half to put away the 16thseeded colonels a recurring theme from the regular season Eastern Kentucky clawed Back with its Pace slowing 131 zone and closed within four Points soon after the break but playing in front of a Home state crowd where the majority of fans wore Light Blue and cheered their every move the tar heels ultimately had the answer by getting Back to their uptempo attack and control Ling the last 10 minutes Hansbrough led the Way with his strongest performance since his nose was broken against Duke two weeks ago the 6foot9 soph Omore sporting a new for fit Ting protective mask went 9forll from the Field Hansbrough said the mask he used during last weeks Atlantic coast conference tournament obstructed his vision possibly part of the reason he averaged just 10 Points and 67 rebounds in the three games he looked More comfortable scrapping inside against Eastern Kentucky i dont think in Ever going to like a mask on my face after these couple of weeks but i think the mask is a lot better he said it fits tight on my face i can see a lot better and its just a lot More comfortable after Eastern Kentucky closed to 4844 Hansbrough keyed the decisive run with two straight baskets and a three Point play that David j North Carolina coach Roy Williams gives instructions to his team during the tar heels 8665 Victory Over Eastern Kentucky on thursday night pushed North Carolinas Lead Back up to 6048 with left the Lead grew to 26 Points from there with North Carolina shoot ing 65 percent for the game and out rebounding the smaller Colo Nels 3816 i am incredibly proud of what our Guys did Here when we came Back Eastern Kentucky coach Jeff Neubauer said us to out score North Carolina in a 13minute period by 23 Points i never would have anticipated that happening our Guys kept competing no Mason Jar this time for Michigan St by Joedy Mccreary the associated press Winston Salem no Michigan state became the answer to a trivia question last season by becoming the first upset victim of George masons surprising Mcaa tournament run a year later the spartans and their Domi Nant defense we rent about to make another Early exit we had some struggles at the end of last year coach Tom Izzo said i didst think All year Long that we really had the defensive mentality we needed to win it want All the players i got soft nothing was soft about the ninth seeded spartans this time Raymar Morgan scored 14 Points and helped his team Clamp Down on eight seeded Marquette for a 6149 Victory in the first round of the East regional on thursday night i dont want to just be a defensive team basketball is a two Way game Izzo said say ing that if you can Only be Good at one your chances of moving on Are better if its the defensive end Drew Neitzel and Marquise Gray added 12 Points apiece for the spartans who shot nearly 54 percent and never trailed in advancing to face North Carolina in the second round saturday in a rematch of a 2005 nation Al semifinal its been our mindset the whole season to win with defense Neitzel said we dont have the most dynamic weapons on the Offen Sive end so weve had to rely on our team de sense the whole season especially in this game the nations fourth est scoring defense held Marquette scoreless for almost 10 min utes at the Start of the game and limited the Golden eagles coached by Rizzos longtime Friend Tom to less than 32 percent shooting in one of their worst performances of the season it was a very difficult prep week for me Izzo said yet in learning mat its going to happen in this business youre going to play your friends sometimes Izzo saved a few tricks for his first matchup against his close Friend with most coming on defense we had some new things but Bottom line they executed their defense game plan really we and we didst Crean said its not easy to Chase those screens Dominic James scored 18 Points on 6for16 shooting and Wesley Matthews added 10 Points for Marquette but they  keep the Golden eagles from their up Niest Points total of the season f ailing shy of a 58point performance in a Jan 7 loss to Syra Cuse Marquette also finished almost 24 Points below its scoring average the Golden eagles trailed by double Fig ures for nearly All of the second half before pulling within 5749 on James three Pointer with 365 seconds left but it want nearly enough to keep Marquette from its second straight first round loss meanwhile the spartans were saved from another Quick trip Home this time Michigan states punishing defensive Effort helped Izzo win his first coaching meeting with Crean an awkward game be tween friends who spent five years together on Michigan states staff before Crean left for Marquette in 1999 their first matchup was decided Early when Marquette missed its first eight shots and was held scoreless for the first 9 minutes 40 seconds meanwhile Michigan state scored the games first 14 Points making six of 11 shots tournament glance opening round at Dayton Ohio tuesday March 13 Niagara 77 Florida 69 East regional first round thursday March 15 at Winston satan no Boston College 84 Texas tech 75 Georgetown 80 Belmontes Michigan St 61 Marquette 49 North Carolina 86 e Kentucky 65 at Sacramento Calif Washington state 70 Oral Roberts 54 Vanderbilt 77 George Washington 44 Friday March 16 at Spokane Wash Texas 249 is new Mexico state 258 Sou California 2311 is Arkansas 2113 second round saturday March 17 Atkinston Salemno Georgetown 276 is Boston College 2111 North Carolina 296 is Michigan St 2311 at Sacramento Calif Washington state 267 is Vanderbilt 2111 sunday March 18 at Spokane Wash Mexico state is Southern Cali regional semifinals at East Rutherford no Friday March 23 regional championship sunday March 25 South regional first round thursday March 15 at Lexington by Louisville 78 Stanford 58 Texas 68 Penn 52 Ohio St 78 Central Connecticut 57 Xavier 79 Brigham Young 77 Friday March 16 at Columbus Ohio Virginia 84 Albany 57 Tennessee 121 Long Beach St 86 at new Orleans Memphis 73 North Texas 58 Nevada 77 Creighton 71 second round saturday March 17 at Lexington by Ohio St 313 is Xavier 258 Texas 266 is Louisville 249 sunday March 18 at Columbus Ohio Virginia 2110 is Tennessee 2310 at new Orleans Memphis 313 is Nevada 294 regional semifinals at san Antonio thursday March 22 regional championship saturday March 24 Midwest regional first round thursday March 15 at Buffalo by Maryland 82 Davidson 70 Butler 57 old Dominion 46 Friday March 16 at Chicago univ 67 Georgia tech 63 Wisconsin 76 Texas 63 at Spokane Wash Winthrop 74 notre Dame 64 Oregon 58 Miami Ohio 56 at new Orleans Arizona 2010 is Purdue 2111 Florida 295 is Jackson state 2113 second round saturday March 17 at Buffalo by Maryland 258 is Butler 286 sunday March 18 at Chicago Wisconsin 305 is univ 296 at Spokane Wash Oregon 277 is Winthrop 294 at new Orleans state is regional semifinals at St Louis Friday March 23 regional championship sunday March 25 West regional first round thursday March 15 at Buffalo nyva Commonwealth 79 Duke 77 Pittsburgh 79 Wright state 58 at Sacramento Calif Urcla 70 Weber state 42 Indiana 70 Gonzaga 57 Friday March 16 at Chicago Kansas 304 is Niagara 2311 Kentucky 2111 is Villanova 2210 at Columbus Ohio Virginia tech 2111 is Illinois 2311 s Illinois 276 is holy Cross 258 second round saturday March 17 at Buffalo by Pittsburgh 287 is a Commonwealth 286 at Sacramento Calif Urcla 275 is Indiana 2110 sunday March 18 at Columbus Ohio s Cross is a at Chicago is regional semifinals at san Jose Calif thursday March 22 regional championship saturday March 24 final four at Atlanta National semifinals saturday March 31 East Champion is South Champion Midwest Champion is West Champion National championship monday april 2