Teams separated at birth?

LEXINGTON, Ky. — In many ways, Xavier and No. 25 BYU will play mirror images of themselves today when they kick off their NCAA South Regional against one another in Rupp Arena.

Both like to push the ball up the court, go inside and then out to their 3-point shooters, are proficient at knocking down outside shots and play good defense.

While the Cougars have the most wins of any No. 8 seed at 25-8, the Musketeers have more wins than any No. 9 seed at 24-8. Both are conference champions. Both lost in their conference tournaments. Both have seasoned seniors who lead their teams, and both squads unselfishly share the ball and go deep on their respective benches.

"There are some similarities," said Xavier coach Sean Miller, "but we go about it differently than they do. BYU has two post players, and we do it by committee."

The Cougars and Musketeers tip off tonight at 7:40. The game will be televised live on CBS. The winner will advance against the winner of No. 1 seed Ohio State and No. 16 Central Connecticut State on Saturday.

Miller said his team's defense will have its hands full with BYU's inside game. "There are no easy remedies," he said of stopping Mountain West Conference player of the year Keena Young while Trent Plaisted is there to take up the slack.

"They have the ability to score a lot of points in transition and break games open, and we'll have to get back to defend."

On the other hand, the Cougars will have the challenge of stopping 5-foot-7 point guard Sean Lavender, who can shoot the 3 and penetrate and kick in breaking down defenses. The Musteteers have been shooting 3-pointers of late just like the Cougars, around 41 percent.

The Cougars, however, will have the edge in rebounding, about four more per game. Xavier's strength, free throw shooting, is BYU's weakness. The Musketeers are making more free throws than their opponents attempt. "The referees like us," said Miller, smiling.

Xavier shoots 74 percent from the line and have made 594 of 802. The Cougars are converting just 66 percent from the line, 444 of 675.

BYU head coach Dave Rose calls Xavier's defense aggressive and expects a double-team physical "monster" double team on Young, while rallying to close down on BYU's outside shooters.

"What you have to do at this stage of the season is adjust to what people do. This team has been good at doing that of late. One of the strengths of our team has been, for our experienced players, to recognizing defenses and adjusting to them."