Lefty Driesell has his Panthers ready to face Maryland, the school where he coached until his firing in 1986. (AP)

OK, it also required an unlikely four-point play, a steal and an assist from Darryl Cooper in the final 48 seconds -- not to mention two missed free throws with 3.2 seconds left by Badgers senior Mark Vershaw -- that created the outcome.

But when Georgia State walked away with a 50-49 upset victory, it was only because they were allowed to stay alive. When it comes to the toughest of wounded animals, you had better kill them, or else.

"I don't know how good we are, but we're finding out right now," Driesell said. "Ain't but 32 teams left, so if we can win (Saturday), ain't but 16. We want to be the last one standing."

Their trip to the Sweet 16, if it is meant to be, is dripping with irony. Next up for the Panthers on Saturday is third-seeded Maryland, who hung on for an 83-80 victory over upstart No. 14 George Mason. And the prospect for Driesell, who coached Maryland from 1969-86, to clear up some unfinished business with his former school is merely a minor detail -- unless you ask him.

"They're a good club," he said dryly. "They have good size and they're obviously heavy favorites, but so was Wisconsin. I have no emotions about it. No, I have no emotions."

He doth protest too much, and Maryland coach Gary Williams knows better, too. Leaving Maryland in the wake of All-American Len Bias' cocaine-related death after the 1986 NBA Draft was a crushing blow to Driesell and everyone connected with the program.

"Knowing the history at Maryland better than most people at Maryland, I think Lefty never got the credit at Maryland for what he did at the university," Williams said. "He helped ease them through a tough time. I pulled for Lefty (today). At the same time, when it comes time to play on Saturday, we're going to play. We're going to come out fired up and ready to go."

For a while, it looked like neither team would advance.

There was a reason the Badgers ended the season 18-11, exemplified by the way they never adjusted to the triangle-and-two defense installed by Driesell late in the first half and throughout the final 20 minutes. He wanted to start the game with what he called the "combination defense" only to have seniors Morris and Shernard Long talk him out of it. But when Long, the second-leading scorer on the team, and leading scorer Thomas Terrell both went scoreless in the first half, he wasn't going to listen to anybody.

After all, Kirk Penney and Roy Boone are the only two scorers on the defensive-oriented Badgers, so Morris and Cooper went after those two guys with a vengeance, with the other three players in a zone. The result was 27.8 percent shooting in the second half for the Badgers.

"It was me and Coop's job to cut their heads off," Morris said. "They've been their only two scorers all year. Once our defense shut them down, we started to gain confidence on offense."

Terrell did convert a 3 during the second-half comeback and pounded inside with nine rebounds. Long was a different story, posting up defensive wiz Mike Kelley and scoring 15 after intermission.

"I just had to get more aggressive," Long said. "I wasn't hitting from the outside, so I took him inside and jumped over him."

His 3-point play tied the game at 42 with 7:11 left, but they still couldn't get the lead. Trailing 49-44 with the clock winding down under 50 seconds, Cooper threw a little jab step at Boone, stepped back and drained the 3-pointer. And Boone then fell into him to produce the four-point play.

"We lost our patience running the offense and I was just looking for an open shot," Cooper said. "I've never had a four-point play before. It was an open look and he hit me after the shot. That broke the ice."

The Badgers weren't done until Vershaw, a 73-percent shooter, went to the line with 3.2 seconds left for two shots. He short-armed the first one off the rim and the second one was long, with Long grabbing the tough rebound. It was a tearful ending for the senior forward, as his voice broke in explanation.

"That's the situation you want to be in, especially since I'm a senior out there," Vershaw said. "I just didn't come through. It's tough because not only did we lose the game, I ended the career of a lot of guys. That's a tough way to end your career."

Which is precisely how George Mason felt after leading Maryland most of the first half and staying right on the Terps' heels until the final 10 seconds of the game.

"There was not a dry eye in the locker room today," Patriots coach Jim Larranga said. "We came here prepared to win today and fell just short."

A spectacular 27-point effort from George Evans, a 30-year-old Army veteran, all but scuttled Maryland's hopes. But the Terps sank 24 of 27 free throws, including two with 4.9 seconds left from Juan Dixon to ice the game. It was a bad call by the officials on a ball that went out of bounds off Maryland guard Steve Blake's leg that forced the foul on Dixon. They ruled Evans touched it, but it didn't hit anybody and was par for the course in a second half during which the crowd clearly got behind George Mason (18-12) and booed the officials for most of the final 20 minutes.

Nonetheless, the Terps (22-10) found a way to win and now they've got that familiar southpaw standing between them and the Sweet 16. It was at the ACC Tournament, played on the Georgia State home court in Atlanta, where Maryland earned its lofty seed and Williams introduced all of his players to Driesell during one practice.

"Now I wish I hadn't let him in," Williams said facetiously. "Really, he just walked in. It was his gym. But I wanted all of my players to meet him. He's been so important to Maryland's history."

And will be again come Saturday, one way or another.