It has been a trying, emotional campaign for coach Lute Olson, who lost his wife, Bobbi, to cancer, has endured high expectations and received erratic play from 7-foot-1 senior center Loren Woods, who recently announced he should have turned professional.

Arizona's Gilbert Arenas puts on a show while scoring two of his 22 points against Stanford.(AP)

None of that matters now. Not after Thursday night's pulsating 76-75 victory over top-ranked Stanford. Not only did it avenge an 86-76 home defeat against the 27-2 Cardinal and prevent them from claiming the out-right Pacific-10 conference title, it showed the 22-7 and eighth-ranked Wildcats have regrouped and are fully capable of making a title run in the Big Dance.

"It feels real great," said junior forward Michael Wright, who muscled past Twin Towers Jarron and Jason Collins for the game-winner with 3 seconds remaining. "We've been through a lot. Our chemistry wasn't there during the Pac-10. The second half, we got it back."

And how. Arizona has won 14 of its past 16 games, most in convincing fashion. Before beating Stanford, the Wildcats had won their previous seven games by an average of 31.9 points.

Make no mistake: Thursday's victory at raucous and sold-out Maples Pavilion, where the Cardinal seldom loses, was a major statement and a huge confidence builder.

Never mind that Stanford missed top front-court backups Curtis Borchardt and Justin Davis, out with injuries, or that Jason Collins sat more than 15 first-half minutes after collecting three quick fouls -- Arizona made the plays at the end and showed heart.

"Definitely," said junior forward Richard Jefferson, who led the cheers as the jubilant team ran into the locker room afterward. "Because there's no doubt in anyone's mind that Stanford was No. 1 in the country. That (losing in Tucson) really hurt. It really messed us up."

In the first meeting, the Collins Twins combined for 41 points and 21 rebounds as the Cardinal out-boarded the Wildcats 42-32. This time, the twins went for 32 and 14, but Arizona won the battle of the glass 36-27. It held Stanford to one offensive rebound in the first half and finished with an 11-6 advantage, converting them into 15 second-chance points.

Olson has stressed rebounding the last seven weeks, devoting at least 20 minutes on drills each practice. Slowly but surely, the hard work has paid off.

"We did a great job getting bodies on people," he said.

After sharing the conference crown with Stanford last year and returning all five starters, the Wildcats were the consensus pre-season No. 1 team in the country and seemed like locks to repeat.

But they lost two tight games against eighth-ranked Illinois, fell to Purdue and Connecticut away from home by a combined five points, lost to Stanford, then dropped Pac-10 outings at Oregon and UCLA, no disgrace.

Despite the distractions and turmoil, Olson kept his squad together and has it peaking at the right time. A win Saturday at Cal will likely secure a No. 2 seed.

"In the beginning, when people were talking about the No. 1 ranking, we told everyone we're going to play our best ball in March," said Jefferson. "We lost a bunch of tough games."

Not lately. Although not deep, Arizona's starting five is as good as anyone in the country. At least, it is when Woods comes to play. Wright is an inside force, Jefferson can elevate and is silky-smooth, and sophomore guards Gilbert Arenas and Jason Gardner are among the best tandems in the nation.

Woods is the wild card. Last month at Oregon State, he went 0-for-4 from the field, finished with two points and two rebounds, and seemed totally disinterested.

Tired of trying to motivate him, the exasperated Olson left it up Woods to inspire himself. Naturally, he was a pregame target by the Stanford Sixth Man Club, which held up signs reading, "Wake up Woods," and chanted "Nyquil! Nyquil."

The last thing Cardinal coach Mike Montgomery wanted was for the student section to arouse Woods. "Not yet," he said.

Though Woods didn't dominate, he played a strong 36 minutes and kept his head in the game until the final buzzer. Woods scored 10 points, shared team rebounding honors with eight, and added four assists and two blocked shots. His most important contribution came in the closing seconds when he fed Wright for the winning basket.

"I thought Loren Woods did a great job," Olson said.

Both coaches said the tension-packed game had an NCAA Tournament feel and that it should help each team down the road. Stanford can secure the Pac-10 title and the No. 1 seed in the West by defeating Arizona State on Saturday, and the Wildcats look to maintain their momentum against the Golden Bears.

Either way, Olson expects both schools to hold their own, no matter what the rest of the nation thinks.

"I think these are two of the premier teams in the country," he said. "We're never going to overcome the time differential, so most of the eastern newspapers will not even have anything in about this game tonight, so that's not anything that we can overcome. But anyone who saw this -- and the usual thing is, well the West is soft. It didn't look very soft to me."