Atlanta ? Watch out Kansas and Maryland. Oklahoma is OK, too.

Better than OK, really.

Much of the attention at the Final Four is on the two No. 1 seeds, the Jayhawks and Terrapins, but the second-seeded Sooners should not be overlooked.

They won the Big 12 tournament. They’re playing some of the best defense in the country. Oh, yeah, they also beat Maryland AND Kansas this season.

The Terrapins and Jayhawks play in the marquee national semifinal Saturday night, following the Sooners’ game against fifth-seeded Indiana.

“I think we’re a tough basketball team, but after watching them it definitely raises the bar,” Hoosiers coach Mike Davis said.

This is nothing like 1974, when the semifinal between North Carolina State and UCLA overshadowed the other between Marquette and Kansas, or like 1983, when Houston and Louisville played above the rim in one semifinal while North Carolina State and Georgia seemed a mere formality.

Still, the attention heading into the weekend is clearly on Kansas-Maryland. The Sooners don’t care  as long as they get by Indiana for a shot at the national championship against a team they already beat this season.

Oklahoma (31-4) defeated then-No. 2 Maryland 72-56 on Dec. 21, one of the Terrapins’ four losses in 34 games, and their lowest point total of the season.

The Sooners split with Kansas (33-3), losing 74-67 on Jan. 19, and then beat the then-No. 1 Jayhawks 64-55 in the Big 12 tournament championship game on March 10. The 55 points were the lowest of the season by far for the nation’s highest scoring team, 35 off their average.

Now it’s Indiana’s turn to face the Sooners’ defense. The Hoosiers (24-11) present a different problem, having gone 15-for-19 from three-point range in the regional final against Kent State, one game after knocking top-seeded Duke out of the tournament.

“Oklahoma is a very physical team and off tape you can see they play with a lot of toughness and hit hard,” Davis said.

Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson could only laugh when talking about Indiana’s shooting spree against Kent State.

“I don’t know if we could go 15-for-19 in a drill,” he said.

Davis and Sampson are making their first appearance in a Final Four, and their schools haven’t exactly been regulars, either. Oklahoma was last in it in 1988, while Indiana hasn’t reached one since 1992.

“When I am by myself, it’s exciting,” Sampson said. “I am like a kid in a candy store. It’s something that I have always, always dreamed about.”

Davis has the added burden of being the first coach to take Indiana to the Final Four since Bob Knight took the Hoosiers there five times, winning it all in 1976, 1981 and 1987. Knight was fired in September 2000 and Davis was promoted to the head coaching position.

“I knew it would be a tough task, but I just wasn’t ready for how tough it has been,” said Davis, who has not spoken to Knight since the firing. “Now I understand that it’s not about me. It is about being a guy who followed coach Knight. I don’t like the criticism sometimes but it is a part of it and I guess I just have to accept it.”

Maryland is the only team with players who have Final Four experience. The Terrapins lost to Duke in the semifinals last year.

“I think you have to go through it. The experience has helped me this year,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said.

Kansas coach Roy Williams has been to two Final Fours  1991 and 1993  but he has had to listen to a lot of criticism in the interim about not getting back.

“I am going to push our team to enjoy it,” he said. “That’s what I am going to ask our players to do: Try to enjoy themselves but realize that we’re there to try and play as well as we can play. That has to take priority.”