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Just rewards Arizona's emotional season will end in Final Four
Updated: Monday March 26, 2001 2:42 AM
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- At home and at work, Lute Olson endured more anguish this season than he's showed. Now his Arizona Wildcats are headed to the Final Four, trying to write an ending that surely won't mend a broken heart but might make up for the headaches the team caused him. Gilbert Arenas scored 18 of his 21 points in the first half, Loren Woods scored 16 of 18 in the second half and Arizona gave Illinois as much of a pounding as it took to win the Midwest Regional final 87-81 Sunday. The Wildcats, 19-2 since beginning the season 8-5, earned a trip to Minneapolis for a national semifinal game against defending champion Michigan State on Saturday. The Spartans beat Temple 69-62 Sunday to win the South Regional. ACC rivals Duke and Maryland will meet in the other Final Four game. "I think the way the guys hung together through the ups and downs shows that we have great team chemistry," Olson said. "This is truly a family. Everyone knows their role and accepts it. That's why there wasn't any dissension when things could've fallen apart for us." Back in October, the Wildcats were talking about not just being champions, but being among the best teams of all-time.
Then came the headaches: Woods suspended for six games to start the season, a one-game suspension for Richard Jefferson, a stretch of five losses in 10 games. The heartache came on Jan. 1 when Bobbi Olson, the coach's wife of 47 years and a second mother to generations of his players, died of ovarian cancer. More headaches followed -- a two-game suspension to reserve Gene Edgerson and a flareup by Woods -- but the Wildcats will take a season-best, 10-game winning streak into their first Final Four appearance since they won the national championship in 1997. "We went through a lot of struggles all year," Arenas said. "We set a goal before the season to get to the Final Four and it looked rough for a while. But we are very grateful to be here now and having the opportunity to reach our goal." Olson, whose 17 straight tournament appearances is second all-time, will be making his fifth trip to the Final Four and fourth with Arizona. But this one will be his first without his wife, whom one fan remembered with a sign that said, "Bobbi O, This One Is For You." "It's difficult," said Olson, whose family sat in the first few row behind the team's bench. "Part of the emotion is that I'm so pleased for our guys to have to go through what they've gone through to achieve their season's goal." Arizona's victory upheld the honor of the Pac-10, which saw Stanford and Southern Cal get bumped in regional finals Saturday. The Wildcats are the conference's first team to make the Final Four since Stanford in 1998. Top-seeded Illinois (27-8) got this far by playing a bruising defense and from the beginning it was obvious they were trying to shut down the 7-foot Woods and power forward Michael Griffin. While the pair didn't even attempt a shot in the first half, Arenas was lighting it up from the outside and Arizona was hitting 56 percent of its shots. Yet the second-seeded Wildcats were only up by four at halftime. The Illini kept banging and made their move after Richard Jefferson went to the bench with four fouls and 16:07 left. A 3-pointer by Lucas Johnson put Illinois ahead for the first time, 49-48, then a layup by Robert Archibald, who had a career-high 25 points, made it 56-54. It was the biggest lead of the game for the Illini, who had beaten their previous three tournament foes by an average of 25.3 points. It didn't last long as Archibald fouled Luke Walton on the other end and his two free throws tied the game. After Marcus Griffin missed the front end of a one-and-one, Woods put Arizona ahead for good, 58-56, with his first basket, a meek 2-footer that bounced several times on the rim before falling through. The Wildcats ended up with a 10-0 run that stretched the lead to 64-56. Griffin and Brian Cook fouled out for the Illini in that span, which Jason Gardner capped with an NBA 3-pointer and a pair of free throws. "A lot of times in practice I work on that shot, the deep-range 3-pointer," said Gardner, who scored 18. "At certain points in the game, it's a good shot."
The Illini got as close as 84-81 in the closing seconds, but Gardner and Woods buried three foul shots to seal Arizona's second victory over Illinois in three games this season. "We played catch-up the whole game," Illini coach Bill Self said. "We finally got the lead, but Arizona responded like good teams do. We didn't play our best by any means." The teams combined for 59 fouls and 81 free throws. The Wildcats took the most, hitting 43-of-56, including 33-of-42 coming in the second half. Six Illini players fouled out. "We played a very physical game and never backed down," said Illini forward Sergio McClain, who fouled out with two points and six rebounds. "They are just a very good team." Arenas, who had 13 points on 6-of-23 shooting in two previous games against the Illini, made 7-of-10 in the first half and the Wildcats hit 56 percent of their shots. He missed all three of his second-half shots. Woods, who had seven blocks, was 3-of-3 from the field and 12-of-13 from the line. Jefferson had 10 points, but his biggest contribution was helping hold Illinois' Frank Williams to nine points, 21 less than he scored two nights before. "It seems like they came out very aggressive on me and put somebody much bigger guarding me to stop me from shooting over them," said Williams, the Big Ten player of the year. "I think Arizona's depth was the key. They kept putting different people on me. It made it real tough." Illinois' Cory Bradford bounced back from a wretched 1-for-13 game in the regional semifinals to hit 8-of-14 shots including 6-of-11 3-pointers. He scored 25 points. Illinois was trying to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 1989. The loss also prevented a second straight Big Ten showdown in the national semifinals. Michigan State beat Wisconsin last year. "We didn't get any breaks today," Self said. "We needed breaks today to win."
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