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Underdog in name only Wildcats head to Final Four in best form of season
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- They may be the lower-ranked team remaining in its next game, but don't let the Arizona Wildcats fool you. This is the same team that topped the preseason poll and was the favorite to win the tournament. And these are the same men who thought they had a realistic shot at being the first undefeated team in 25 years. "Regardless of what we said in the beginning of the year of what anybody said, we still had a very talented team and people were expecting us to be at this point, not only to be in the Final Four, but to win a national championship,' said center Loren Woods. A tumultuous season filled with player suspensions and the death of coach Lute Olson's wife may have changed the dream season for the Wildcats (27-7), but they're still within one win of the finals as they face defending champion Michigan State Saturday. Woods may be indicative of the rejuvenated Arizona team. Suspended for the first six games this season for accepting improper benefits from a family friend, he questioned his own play late into the conference schedule before playing like many thought he could in recent weeks. "It's been a long road, and there's pieces of the puzzle that we've still got to put together and hopefully we can get it done come Saturday and pull it all out on Monday," said reserve forward Gene Edgerson, the only player remaining from the 1997 championship team. Edgerson sat out last year to student teach and finish his bachelor's degree. He returned to a team held with higher regard than the one that eventually won it all his freshman year. "There's more expectations now," he said. "Definitely there's a lot more pressure, because from the get-go we were picked to be the champion at the end of the year." Arizona is playing in its fourth Final Four and third in eight years, all under Olson. But Olson has not coached the team throughout, taking a brief break before and after the Jan. 1 death of his wife Bobbi, who succumbed to ovarian cancer. Olson believes his team has now found a balance between its deep talent, looking for open players instead of just one "go-to-guy."
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