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Freshmen guide North Carolina and Kentucky

NEWARK, N.J. - Amid all the star power of Kentucky and North Carolina, a pair of freshman point guards could tip the outcome in favor of their respective teams Sunday in the NCAA East Regional final.

NEWARK, N.J. - Amid all the star power of Kentucky and North Carolina, a pair of freshman point guards could tip the outcome in favor of their respective teams Sunday in the NCAA East Regional final.

The Wildcats feature 6-foot-3 Brandon Knight, who has hit the game-winning shot in two of Kentucky's three NCAA victories. The Tar Heels point guard, 6-3 Kendall Marshall, hasn't drawn the national publicity of Knight but has done a marvelous job since taking over the starting job 19 games ago.

"Brandon is a talented, special player," Marshall said. "He made a lot of big-time plays. I think he showed throughout his career what kind of player he is. He's the anchor of the team, the point guard, keeping them going. [He made] two big shots in the tournament to keep the season alive."

Kentucky coach John Calipari said he has been impressed with Marshall.

"They get the ball up the court in a hurry, and he'll throw it ahead," he said. "He'll snake his way to the rim if you space out. On his drives, he can find people next to the goal. He can find three-point shooters. So he makes the game easy for his teammates."

Knight averages a team-high 17.2 points and 4.2 assists. Marshall isn't nearly as focused on scoring, averaging 6.2 points, but he doles out 6.2 assists per game, and led the ACC in assists during the regular season.

Staying or going. Depending on what Internet mock draft you read, and the resolution of the league's labor situation, as many as four players on the court in Sunday's game could be playing in the NBA next season.

Kentucky's Knight and Terrence Jones and Carolina's Harrison Barnes and John Henson all are forecast to be first-round draft choices. But they aren't thinking past Sunday.

"All of us are student-athletes, and we are focused on being student-athletes first," Knight said. "I am enjoying the time that I'm having here and loving the college experience."

North Carolina coach Roy Williams realizes that questions about players advancing to the next level are going to be asked at this point in the season, but he finds the questions impossible to answer.

"You will not get the complete full answer because most of the kids don't know," he said. "They haven't had the research done by their coach. They haven't had the research done by their parents. They're just getting over a great win or a horrific loss. That part of it is difficult for [the media] to understand."

Raise your hands. Calipari was explaining about communication with Knight when he decided to conduct a little poll among his players with him on the interview podium.

"There's just a lot of coaching, a lot of talking," he said. "Of these players right now, if I said, who have I been the hardest on this year, raise your hand. They would all raise their hand."

None of the five players did, eliciting laughter from everyone on the podium, including Calipari.