What to Look For

* How they got there: The Harrick family reunion this Friday against Valparaiso was scheduled when Rhode Island and the exiled UCLA coach dropped the tournament’s biggest bombshell, a second-round upset of top-seeded Kansas won by the quickness of guards Tyson Wheeler and Cuttino Mobley. Less noticed was the inside play of Luther Clay, a transfer who could face his former team, Purdue, in a regional final.

Valparaiso is this year’s darling after Bryce Drew, the coach’s son, stunned Mississippi with his spectacular game-winning three-pointer in the first round and scored 22 points to help beat Florida State in overtime in the second. Coach Homer Drew is assisted by another son, Scott Drew, and by Jim Harrick Jr. One word of caution to everyone with a burgeoning crush on Cinderella: No 13th-seeded team has ever won a regional semifinal game.

Stanford, almost forgotten after its midseason swoon, is the third-seeded team in a draw that has gaping openings now because of the flurry of upsets, and a trip to the Final Four is a very real possibility. The Cardinal held off upset-minded College of Charleston by 10 points in the first round and beat Western Michigan by 18 in the second after Western Michigan had eliminated Clemson. The game against Purdue on Friday isn’t a bad matchup.

The Boilermakers haven’t been tested in a 39-point victory over Delaware or a 25-point win over Detroit. Stanford could be interesting, because the Cardinal has the same inside-outside game, but more of it. Chad Austin is Purdue’s scoring guard, and Brad Miller is a finesse 6-11 center in the Stanford mold.

* Difference-maker: Jim Harrick has vaguely compared Rhode Island guard Tyson Wheeler to Tyus Edney and Pooh Richardson, but he’s his own player. Quick, extremely creative and occasionally a little wild, he shoots better from long range than from 15 feet. At 5 feet 10, though, he probably doesn’t have an NBA future.

* Four questions: How torn is the fiercely loyal Jim Harrick Jr. between wanting his father to show up UCLA and wanting the Crusaders to continue their, uh, crusade?

Valpo really can’t pull a third upset . . . can it?

Does Stanford’s Mike Montgomery have to make the Final Four to be recognized as the best coach on the West Coast?

Can Miller, Purdue’s center, be effective and stay out of foul trouble against Stanford’s forest of big men?

* Looking forward to: Rhody versus Valpo. The must-see game of the tournament. Who could resist all those storylines? The wonderful thing is, one of them is going to win.

* A glimpse at the coaches: Jim Harrick is 16-11 in NCAA tournament games. Homer Drew’s best recruiting job was getting his son Bryce, Mr. Basketball in Indiana, to stay home. If Mike Montgomery makes the Final Four, he won’t have to wait till the San Francisco 49er season ends to see columnists at Stanford games. Keady carries the banner for underachievement: In 19 seasons and 14 NCAA appearances, he has never reached the Final Four.

* How it shakes out: Rhode Island ends Valparaiso’s storybook run and Stanford has more offensive weapons than Purdue, sending Rhode Island and Stanford into a rematch of Stanford’s one-point victory in December. Incredible as it sounds, we think it might be Rhode Island going to the Final Four. Dare we hope UCLA makes it too?