Most coaches going to a national championship tournament worry about their players getting caught up in the atmosphere and having jitters when they take the court.

For North Alabama coach Bobby Champagne, however, his team's nerves is the least of his worries.

The Lions (27-8) are an experienced team and one that hasn't seemed to be affected by outside distractions. Champagne expects that to continue when UNA faces Bentley (33-0) in the quarterfinal round Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

"This has been a fun group to coach and it's a group that doesn't get real tight," Champagne said. "These guys are always loose. Everybody has been patting them on the back lately, but I don't think they get too caught up in reading their press clippings.

"It will be a little different at the Elite Eight in all aspects. The travel, the banquet and press conference on Tuesday are all things that can be distractions. It's a good thing this team is not in awe of anything. I expect us to handle it well."

Bentley will have one advantage over UNA in that the Falcons are playing in their second straight Elite Eight. The Falcons went 32-0 last year before losing their first game at the Elite Eight to Grand Valey State. UNA, meanwhile, is making its first Elite Eight appearance since 1996.

"Having been there last year is definitely an advantage for teams like Bentley and Winona State," Champagne said. "Bentley also has an advantage in travel, since they're just a three-hour drive from Springfield. But our guys have played in a lot of big games this year, so we shouldn't be in awe of our surroundings."

Champagne points to UNA's exhibition games at Indiana and at Alabama before the start of the regular season with helping the Lions learn to deal with a big-time atmosphere.

Junior guard Kenny Johnson said the experience of opening the season in front of more than 17,000 fans at Indiana's Assembly Hall has helped the Lions this season.

"You see Indiana on TV all the time and it always seemed like it was so much bigger and better than us," Johnson said. "When we played them we realized that they are great players, but we could compete with them. After playing against a great player like Eric Gordon, I figured I could handle anybody else I went up against the rest of the season.

"Then we opened the season against Winona State, which was expected to be the No. 1 team this year. We played them really tough. If we can compete with those guys we can compete with anybody. We've put ourselves in this position. Now we've got to seize the opportunity."

Jeff McIntyre can be reached at 740-5737 or jeff.mcintyre@timesdaily.com.