MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – As the buzzer sounded, Richard Jefferson
threw his hands in the air and sent a salute to all those Arizona
fans who have watched this bittersweet season unfold.
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On the strength of an extremely impressive performance, Arizona moves on to the title game. And what an emotional ride it has been for the Wildcats. Think about it: Lute Olson – who married his beautiful bride, his high school sweetheart, the late Bobbi Olson, here in Minneapolis – has an opportunity to win the national championship in this very city.
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"One more win," he mouthed to the crowd, as he thrust his
index fingers in the air. "One more win."
A five-minute barrage of can't-miss shooting and smothering
defense pushed the Wildcats to an 80-61 victory over defending
champion Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament's semifinals
Saturday.
With a victory Monday over Duke, a 95-84 winner over Maryland in
the second semifinal, Arizona will close this season in true
storybook fashion. And what an ending that would be, for a team
still mourning the loss of coach Lute Olson's wife, Bobbi, who died
of cancer Jan. 1.
"It's been real tough, what the coach has gone through and what
the team has gone through," Jefferson said. "It keeps coming up
continuously. That's the hardest part for us as a team. We've been
talking about it a long time. The season is dedicated to Mrs.
Olson."
Using a 21-3 run to start the second half, Arizona took a
20-point lead, then held off a brief Michigan State rally to move
closer to its first title since 1997.
Maybe a championship will put a permanent end to the debate
about Arizona being a "soft" team from the Pac-10 – a reputation
that has dogged the Wildcats despite their perennial success.
|  | | Michigan State coach Tom Izzo can't bear to watch his team fall apart in the second half. |
"If they consider us soft, that's a good thing," point guard
Jason Gardner said. "We have the emotion going our way. We knock
their confidence down and ours goes up. We went through a lot this
year, but we knew we'd be contenders."
Despite the loss of Mateen Cleaves and two more seniors from
last year's title team, the Spartans became just the ninth team to
make three straight Final Fours. But against the preseason No. 1 –
the team center Loren Woods said might be the best ever – Michigan
State appeared outmanned.
"We just did some things out there that were un-Spartan-like,"
coach Tom Izzo said. "But we had a heck of a year, and I'm not
going to let this ruin that."
Bobbi Olson's death was only part of Arizona's story.
Woods and Jefferson were suspended early in the season for
violating NCAA rules. Coaches sent senior Eugene Edgerson home for
a few days in January after he complained too loudly about the role
he was playing.
But nobody seemed upset with their role in this game, especially
Gardner, a 5-foot-10 guard who played at the Indianapolis high
school where Arizona practiced for the Final Four in 1997.
All Gardner wanted was a glimpse of practice, but security
guards kept shooing him away. Four years later, he was at the
center of Arizona's dominating performance, scoring 21 points on
6-for-11 shooting.
Gardner stepped in front of a pass – one of 12 Arizona steals –
then glided in for a layup and a three-point play with seven
minutes left to give the Wildcats a 15-point lead and essentially
end Michigan State's brief comeback.
Before that, Michael Wright was at the center of the 21-3 run
that gave Arizona (28-7) a double-digit lead.
The junior forward, who didn't take a single shot in last week's
victory over Illinois and was barely a factor in the first half of
this game, opened the half with a short jumper, and had a pair of
layups during the run that gave Arizona a 53-33 lead. Wright
finished with 13 points.
"In the first half, I played kind of lackadaisical," Wright
said. "But in the second half, I had to come out and establish
myself."
Jefferson had 17 points for the Wildcats. Before his salute to
the fans, he shot a meaningless airball that Edgerson dunked, an
emphatic ending to a dominating night.
"It was a great performance," Olson said. "I thought
particularly in the second half, we made it difficult for Michigan
State to get looks and we made a run."
Down by 20, Michigan State's Andre Hutson finally got going. He
scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. But
Charlie Bell, the other senior leader on this team, had an awful
game – 1-for-10 shooting and just three points – as the Spartans
(28-5) struggled to decipher the zone defenses Arizona unexpectedly
threw at them.
Michigan State shot 2-for-14 from 3-point range, its
second-worst performance of the year. The Spartans turned it over
15 times.
"We threw interceptions time and time again," Izzo said. "We
feel bad to go out this way. For some reason, we weren't with it.
It's a big stage. It happens."
The future still looks bright for Izzo's team. Freshman center
Zach Randolph scored 12 points and was Michigan State's only inside
threat in the first half, which ended with Arizona leading 32-30.
Another freshman, Marcus Taylor, shot well early and scored eight
points.
As expected, Michigan State held the rebounding edge 40-33, but
Woods, the gangly, 7-foot-1 center, held his own, finishing with 11
points and eight rebounds, mostly in the first half.
Bell, the point guard, led Michigan State with 10 rebounds.
Jason Richardson, a sophomore considering leaving for the NBA, had
just six points on 2-for-11 shooting, as the Michigan State
starting guards shot 3-for-21.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
Michigan State Clubhouse
Frozen moment: Cheating 'Cats prosper
When it matters most, Spartans stars have worst game of season
Arizona smothers Michigan State with balanced attack
Michigan State campus calm after humbling defeat
Arizona's quickness will meet Duke's resilience in title game
Duke comes back from 22 down to beat Terps again
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Lute Olson talks with ESPN's Andy Katz after his team advances to the NCAA final.
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 Jason Gardner tells ESPN's Brad Daugherty he will take whoever shows up for the finals.
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Coach Tom Izzo talks with ESPN's Jay Bilas after his team's Final Four loss.
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Coach Lute Olson felt the Wildcats couldn't have played a better second half (Courtesy: NCAA Productions).
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Coach Tom Izzo doesn't want this loss to spoil the Spartans' accomplishments (Courtesy: NCAA Productions).
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Andre Hutson feels like the Spartans give there best effort, but it wasn't enough. (Courtesy NCAA Production)
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