SAN ANTONIO -- Arizona is still most comfortable when Jason Gardner is swishing a crucial 3-pointer. Or when Loren Woods is swatting shots. Or when Gilbert Arenas is showing off his NBA talent.
But looking ahead to their Final Four match Saturday against Michigan State, the Wildcats aren't just touting their athleticism. They're beating their chests a little, too.
 | |
| After outmuscling one Big Ten foe, Gilbert Arenas and the Wildcats must prove they can do it again.(AP) | |
"The 'soft' conference got three teams in the elite eight," coach Lute Olson said after defeating Illinois in the Midwest Regional final. "I just think that people need to wake up to the fact that the Pac-10 is a quality conference."
Reserve forward Eugene Edgerson -- cleverly described by a writer as looking like he stepped off the set of The White Shadow, with his Afro and kneepads -- had a similar take on the events of the weekend.
"The strong find a way to survive," Edgerson said, "and we're surviving."
To survive beyond Saturday's game against the defending national champions, Arizona will have to keep the attitude it took into the game against the Illini. With players such as Zach Randolph and Andre Hutson, Michigan State led the nation in rebounding. Before the season, the Illini used the Spartans as the model for their style. It's a team whose coach, Tom Izzo, once had the players practice in football gear.
"They rebound better than Illinois, so we're going to have to play even harder," Edgerson said.
Ironically, for a team that had no hesitation accepting preseason plaudits as the best team in the country -- and maybe one of the best in years -- Arizona is casting itself as the underdog in Minneapolis.
"People think we're just a solid team, but not as good as Duke or Michigan State," forward Richard Jefferson said.
Edgerson, who redshirted last season, is the only Arizona player of significance with Final Four experience. He was a freshman when the Wildcats won the national title in 1997. A rigorous regional final against Illinois is good preparation, though. At halftime, Edgerson recalled, Olson told the Wildcats that the toughest team would win. At the time, Illinois had a 9-1 advantage on the offensive boards. Woods, who is 7-feet-1, didn't have a rebound.
Woods finished with 18 points, seven blocks and five rebounds.
"If it wasn't for him, we might be sitting here crying," Edgerson said after the game.
Arizona's season has been about nothing if not comebacks. The coming week will bring more stories about Olson dealing with the death of his wife during the season. There were also player suspensions and a need to mold a cohesive team from lots of individual talent.
"If we went into the tournament the way we started the season, we would have been out in the first round," Arenas said, mindful that the Wildcats opened the season with an 8-5 record.
"The big thing is that we hung together all season long," Olson said. "Guys began to understand their roles. I am really pleased with our team and we're looking forward to playing more."
Arizona will go to Minneapolis for its fourth Final Four, all under Olson, who is in his 18th season at the school. The Wildcats have never played Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament. They're 3-1 against the Spartans during the regular season.
They've won 10 games in a row since losing in overtime at UCLA on Feb. 15. They're full of confidence. A sign in the crowd at the Alamodome on Sunday reflected the memory of Arizona defeating Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky before winning the national title in 1997.
"Let's beat 3 No. 1 seeds ... again," it said.
