ESPN.com - NCB - Final Four rematch not out of the question

STANFORD, Calif. – Arizona coach Lute Olson pulled Stanford's Casey Jacobsen aside at midcourt, but didn't say, "Goodbye until next year's Pac-10 season." Olson told the Stanford star he hopes to see him again later this month.

It's not a reach.

Stanford and Arizona, lost amid the luster of the made-for-TV Championship Week tournaments, staged what could have been an instant classic this season.


	In beating No. 1 Stanford on Thursday night, Arizona looked like the team deemed the best in the country during the preseason.

Arizona beat Stanford 76-75 on a two-foot power move by Michael Wright with three seconds left on the shaking Maples Pavilion floor Thursday night.

The win likely locked up a No. 2 seed, outside of the West, for the Wildcats. Stanford's No. 1 in the West is still untouchable and a date in San Diego for the first round seems a given.

The outright Pac-10 title still belongs to the Cardinal unless Stanford blows a game to Arizona State and Arizona beats Cal for a shared crown Saturday. But that is unlikely.

The deeper meaning to Thursday night's game was both teams played at an elite level. This was high-quality basketball between two teams that could meet in Minneapolis.

The talk of Duke and North Carolina meeting three or four times this season was a creation of the hysteria over the historic rival last Sunday. But the reality is that Stanford and Arizona have just as good a chance of renewing their conference rivalry as Duke-Carolina, Illinois-Michigan State or even Duke-Maryland at the end of the month.

"This was just as good as a North Carolina-Duke game," Arizona's Jason Gardner said. "And both of these teams can go to the Final Four."

Stanford was the given, but Arizona was the unknown heading into the final weekend of the Pac-10 season. Yet the Wildcats showed Thursday that they have finally weathered the emotional storm that nearly swallowed their season.

"They've had a very trying year and mentally I think we're tough enough to handle everything," Olson said of his players.

You name it, Arizona experienced. They had to deal with death, suspensions, selfishness and occassional poor play to get to this point.

"We're completely different," Arizona forward Richard Jefferson said. "I don't think anyone has been playing better than us the last 12-13 games. No one in the country."

The final play of the game for Arizona symbolized the Wildcats' change. Four of the five players on the court -- Jefferson with the inbounds pass, Gardner with the first entry pass to Loren Woods and Woods a bounce pass inside to Wright -- touched the ball. Gilbert Arenas was the decoy on the wing. To get the win, Arizona didn't jack up a shot or try to do something that was outside their limitations. Instead, they went to their strength in Wright, something they did throughout the game, as he got 14 points and eight rebounds to complement Arenas' 22.

"Something good had to happen for us before the tournament," Jefferson said. "We're getting there. I personally think Stanford is a lock for the Final Four, but it's up to us to get there. There is a chance we can meet again."

The reason is because Arizona has gotten back to the basics of rebounding and defense -- something the Wildcats lacked in falling at Oregon and in games against the likes of Mississippi State.

"What we're doing now is making sure the shots we take are shots we can make," Olson said. "Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and take shots too quickly. And before we were terrible on the defensive board."

Stanford was admittedly thin Thursday with Justin Davis on the sideline with a bum ankle. The athletic reserve forward was kept out of this weekend's series with the hope he will be fine for the NCAA Tournament next week.

The Cardinal got into foul trouble early when Jason Collins scored eight points in the first five minutes, including two 3-pointers, but picked up three fouls. He finished with 20 points and nine boards in 24 minutes while Casey Jacobsen put up 20 with two 25-foot 3-pointers. The balance was there yet again for the Cardinal, but their defense on the last possession wasn't as sound.

That's fine. It was one play and not the end of the world for the still-No. 1 team in the nation. They could still meet a team that could disrupt them in the first weekend, a team like Ohio State or this year's version of North Carolina of 2000, a No. 8 seed that beat the Cardinal in the second round last year.

"I don't want the media to say we've fallen off or aren't playing good basketball because that's not the case," Jacobsen said. "We just need to make the plays and not let a guy like Michael Wright get the ball two feet from the basket. We'll look back on this game and it will help us because we will face a team like this."

Jacobsen said Thursday night's game was a tournament game. He's right. The atmosphere was NCAA-like and both teams matched each other. Arizona made the last play; Stanford couldn't. But it doesn't mean the Cardinal won't get another chance.

"We can meet again, we really can," Jacobsen said. "Arizona is a dangerous team and I feel sorry for who gets them in their bracket. We played like a team tonight, but we just didn't come up with the plays. But we'll be fine. We're just as confident as we've always been."

After the game, Stanford coach Mike Montgomery didn't yell at his players. He was relaxed in the locker room, so much that Jacobsen said it put the players at ease knowing they're on the right track -- a road that could lead them to Minneapolis against Arizona again.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

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