BUFFALO, NY (3/18/04) -- After a heartbreaking overtime loss in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament and a cover-your-eyes stomping in the quarterfinals of this year's Atlantic 10 Tournament, yes, the Saint Joseph's Hawks have something to prove.

But not to Billy Packer or Digger Phelps or any of the other pundits who have somehow come to doubt the achievements of the 27-1 Hawks.

When Saint Joseph's takes the floor Thursday afternoon at HSBC Arena for its first-round NCAA game against Liberty, it will be looking to make a statement to itself.

"We have a lot to prove," acknowledged head coach Phil Martelli at Wednesday's media session. "It has nothing to do with proving something to others. It's about us proving to ourselves that we can and will play good basketball."

The top-seeded Hawks, whose teamwork and focus have been exceptional all season long, continued to play up those themes, professing not to be worried about the opinions of others.

"Coming from St. Joe's, a small, little, Catholic school, we're going to have your doubters and critics [who wonder] if we're able to play with the big boys," said senior guard Tyrone Barley. "That just comes with the game. We're not concerned with that. We just want a chance to play."

Senior point guard Jameer Nelson was similarly matter-of-fact. "People are going to say negative things about you and positive things," he said. "It all boils down to what Tyrone said -- let's match up and let's play."

No. 16 Liberty (18-14), the Big South Conference champion, does an excellent job defending the three-point shot. The Hawks, of course, live on the perimeter and will have to devise a way to counter that. And like Saint Joseph's, the Flames rely on backcourt scorers, though they tend to get their buckets closer in than the Hawks' shooters do.

"We're going to have our hands full with those guards," said junior Delonte West. "As long as we stick with our game plan, we'll be all right."

Liberty head coach Randy Dunton watched his squad play such teams as Duke, Arizona, and Seton Hall this year, and after poring over film of Saint Joseph's games, he acknowledged, "we have a lot of questions to answer." While noting that the Flames are in Buffalo "to win, not just to compete," Dunton is well aware that no 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1 seed in the tourney's first round.

"There's a good reason they went 27-0," he said. "It's called Nelson and West. We have to do a great job of keeping those two from dominating the offensive picture. They're responsible for 30 shots between them a game.

"The unfortunate part about trying to guard Jameer is that he does so many things. There's not too much you can tell the defender. He goes hard both way in both directions. He can step in and shoot or shoot with range, and he gets in the lane and distributes. We match up better with some of their other guys, but if starts breaking down our defenders, it can cuase a lot of problems for us."

Asked about the Xavier game, Martelli again faulted himself for failing to prepare his team to face the Musketeers and vowed not to allow that to happen again.

"The only thing that is of any value to us is this opportunity," he said. "We're going to try to play the best 40 minutes of the year tomorrow, and then we'll deal with the next things."

For their part, the Hawks seemed focused Wednesday on one thing -- the task at hand, and as a top seed, they, not Liberty, should determine the game's outcome.

"All I'm thinking about now is Saint Joseph's and us continuing to win," he said

"It's in the past," Nelson said of the Xavier game. "We're trying not to think about it. It's in the back of our minds, but you can't dwell in the past. The present is the most important."

For SJU, the present begins at about 2:45 Thursday.