Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

That's how the men's basketball team must have felt as it arrived in New York on Saturday for the Final Four of the National Invitation Tournament. The Lions meet Vanderbilt at 7 tonight in Madison Square Garden in a nationally televised game on ESPN.

Being in New York for the first time, which is the situation for most of the players, it's understandable for the Lions (24-8) to want to see the sights and sounds of the Big Apple. Before they left, however, Coach Bruce Parkhill said he hopes the Lions concentrate, along with not getting lost, on the task at hand.

"I want them to enjoy being there," Parkhill said. "This is maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity for them, but I want to strike a happy medium between really focusing on the game and being ready to play as well as we can. I think we can do that."

The Lions will have to do more than think against the Commodores (19-14). Early in the season the Commodores beat Alabama Birmingham, a team that crushed the Lions, and Alabama, which almost beat high-flying Loyola Marymount on Saturday.

After a 10-2 start, the Commodores struggled through the rest of the regular season, going 4-11. In the Southeastern Conference Tournament they lost in the semifinals to Mississippi. But in the quarterfinals they beat regular-season champ Georgia.

In the NIT they beat Louisiana Tech (98-90), Tennessee (89-85) and New Orleans (88-65). That's quite an accomplishment for a team that was on the skids early in the year.

"We seem to be in sync right now and we're playing better basketball," Vanderbilt coach Eddie Fogler said. "We've won a couple of close games and I think we have our confidence back. Our chemistry is very good right now."

Driving the Commodores attack is guard Scott Draud, who averages 15.5 points per game. Draud's supporting cast includes point guard Derrick Wilcox (11.6), who Fogler said is the team's leader, and center Eric Reid (10.5), who scored 18 points against New Orleans.

"They have nice balance to their offensive attack," Parkhill said. "Their approach to the game is similar to ours. They play multiple defenses. They do a lot more stunting and trapping in their halfcourt defense than we do, but offensively they're very similar."

Well, at least their statistics are similar. The three Lions in double figures are Ed Fogell (15.5), James Barnes (11.2) and Freddie Barnes (10.6). James Barnes, however, is doubtful for the game because of a broken toe.

Dave Degitz and C.J. Johnson, who had two good games filling in for Barnes, will have to continue their solid play off the bench in place of Barnes.

"Obviously, we're not the same team without Jimmy," Parkhill said. "The guys who went in have done a real good job. But to win two tough games without him is just amazing."

"(Penn State) is an opportunistic fast-break team," Fogler said. "They like to run if it's there. What Penn State does is they really don't take bad shots. They aren't going to come down on the break and take a quick one on the break."

With the Commodores' ability to play good defense and the Lions' tendency to turn the ball over, the Lions will have to play as close to perfect basketball as they can do.

"Both teams are teams that don't beat themselves very often," Parkhill said. "I think it will probably be a game of spurts, and we have to take care of the basketball.

Notes: New Mexico (20-12) beat Hawaii, 80-58, on Friday to round out the Final Four. The Lobos will play St. Louis (20-11), which beat DePaul, 54-47, on Thursday . . . Eleven buses are expected to make the trip to tonight's game . . .The Commodores are making their first appearance in a Final Four of any type.