NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT / WEST REGIONAL AT LONG BEACH : Tide, Really Rolling Now, Routs Arizona : Alabama: Sanderson thinks his team is overlooked, but 77-55 victory over the second-seeded Wildcats is worthy of respect.

Alabama Coach Wimp Sanderson contends that the Crimson Tide doesn’t get the respect it deserves because it plays in Tuscaloosa instead of New York.

“I think if we were in New York or the Eastern part of the country we’d be ranked, because the Eastern media ranks the teams,” Sanderson said. “But personally, I don’t really care if we’re overlooked.”

After defeating No. 14 Arizona, 77-55, in an NCAA West Regional second-round game Sunday at the Long Beach Arena, to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the fifth time since 1982, maybe the Crimson Tide will earn some recognition.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson was impressed with Alabama after the Crimson Tide handed the second-seeded Wildcats (25-7) their second-largest defeat of the season.

“I thought they played as well as anyone we played all year long,” Olson said. “They whipped us in every possible way we could get whipped.”

Alabama (26-8) faces Loyola Marymount (25-5) in a West Region semifinal game Friday at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

How does Alabama match up against Loyola Marymount?

“The way that Loyola is playing right now, I don’t think that anybody, including the Lakers, could match up with them,” Olson said. “It’s almost eerie the way they’re shooting it. It’s obvious they’re on a mission. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a college team play better than they did today (in a 34-point victory over Michigan.)”

Sanderson is also impressed with Loyola Marymount’s high scoring offense.

“They need a couple of extra digits on the scoreboard,” Sanderson said. “I saw the guy that punches the numbers up there and he had his finger in ice water. They’re playing awfully well now.”

Alabama is playing well now, too.

After finishing in a second-place tie with Louisiana State in the Southeastern Conference, Alabama won the conference tournament and has won its two NCAA games by 17 and 22 points.

“I think we had a good team all year,” Sanderson said. “The more we played together it seemed the better we got.”

One of the reasons Alabama has flourished has been the Crimson Tide’s aggressive defense.

Allowing just 61.6 points per game this season, Alabama’s defense limited Arizona to its lowest point total of the season.

Alabama did a nice job of shutting down Arizona’s perimeter offense, particularly in the second half, when the Wildcats shot just 29.2%. Arizona’s three outside shooters, guards Matt Othick and Matt Muehlebach and forward Jud Buechler, missed 21 of 30 shots.

“We were a little frustrated,” Muehlebach said. “They really changed up defenses well. Whatever they threw at us seemed to work.”

After scoring a career-high 28 points in Arizona’s 79-67 win over South Florida, Arizona forward Brian Williams was ineffective against Alabama, failing to score. Hampered by sore knees, Williams played just 14 minutes. Sean Rooks started the second half in place of Williams and scored 11 points before fouling out.

“After Brian played 28 minutes on Friday, we knew we were going to have a hard time with him making much of a contribution,” Olson said. “It was obvious to us early that he wasn’t going to be much of a contributor and we knew that Sean Rooks was going to have to play a lot of minutes.”

Alabama also did a good job of shutting down Arizona’s inside game, out-rebounding the Wildcats 40-27.

How did Alabama out-rebound Arizona’s taller front line?

“They’re so big and strong we knew that we had to beat them with our quickness,” said Alabama forward Keith Askins. “It was like David and Goliath. They had us outsized but we came up with some loose balls.”

After scoring 27 points in Alabama’s 71-54 win over Colorado State, forward Robert Horry was ineffective after getting into foul trouble. Horry, who failed to score in the first half, had just eight points, but center David Benoit took up the slack, scoring 20 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

Leading, 46-42, with 15 minutes left, Alabama put the game away with a 25-12 run. Horry had eight points in the spurt, hitting two three-point baskets, and Benoit added six. Alabama shot 54.2% in the second half against Arizona’s defense, which had held its opponents to 38.9% this season.