COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Arkansas Again Set to Hog the Limelight : Midwest Regional: After rolling over Virginia, 68-61, Razorbacks are back in the Final Four.

Well, so much for that Arkansas dynasty death watch.

The Razorbacks are alive and kicking and Virginia has the bruise marks to prove it after Arkansas’ 68-61 Midwest Regional final victory Sunday at Kemper Arena in front of 15,622, most wearing hog red.

For only the fourth time since the mid-1970s, when UCLA ruled the NCAA tournament’s muscle beach, a team has advanced to the Final Four for a second consecutive season. The latest to join the history pages is Arkansas (31-6), which finally won a postseason game without going to overtime or having to nibble at its fingernails in the waning moments of regulation.

“That looked like the old Razorbacks of yesteryear, when our defense took over the game,” said Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson, whose team will face North Carolina in the Final Four semifinals Saturday at Seattle. “We had Scotty Thurman shooting from the ozone, making some baskets that I’ve seen over the last few years. Then, of course, when things are really bad, we go to the deliverer--The Big Nasty--and he delivers.”

For those not entirely familiar with Richardson-speak, the Razorbacks of yesteryear (meaning 1994, when they won the national title) played pressure defense as if their scholarships depended on it. So tenacious was Arkansas’ in-your-face mentality, that Richardson remains convinced the NCAA changed its hand-check rules in response to complaints about the Razorbacks’ push-and-poke philosophy.

As for Thurman, he is best remembered for that game-winning rainbow jumper over Duke’s Grant Hill in last season’s final. And 6-7, 245-pound Corliss Williamson, known better as “The Big Nasty,” was the immovable object on the low post.

Together, they took home an NCAA trophy, traded high-fives with a U.S. president and became the overwhelming pick to repeat in 1995. Now they’re back, but only because Williamson and Thurman re-created their greatest hits of a season ago and Arkansas’ pressure defense made a timely reappearance.

“This year has been a lot bumpier,” Williamson said, “but we’ve kept on going like a four-wheel drive and now we’re on top of the mountain . . . or almost on top of the mountain.”

Smoothing out the ride was Williamson, the Midwest Regional most valuable player who made eight of 13 shots, scored 21 points and collected nine rebounds. Thurman did his part too, scoring 17 points, including a backbreaking three-point shot with 4:13 remaining that nearly grazed the Kemper Arena ceiling. The basket moved the second-seeded Razorbacks to a 54-48 lead and was the highlight of a run that ended fourth-seeded Virginia’s chances.

But the key to it all was the Arkansas defense, which had made only cameo appearances in recent months. This time it was unrelenting. The Cavaliers (25-9) shot a season-low 33.9% from the field, scored only 25 points in the first half and had only one player finish in double figures--power forward Junior Burrough, who had 22 points, but needed 14 attempts from the floor and 11 from the free-throw line to get it.

“Sooner or later, the way they play basketball, it’s going to overwhelm you,” Burrough said.

Need proof? With nearly 10 minutes left to play, star Cavalier guard Harold Deane was bent over, hands on knees, panting for breath. He took 16 shots, made four and scored 12 of the hardest points of his career.

“They were sending two, three guards at the ball trying to make you make the long pass so they can get a steal,” said Deane, who looked exhausted even 20 minutes after game’s end.

It wasn’t by accident. Richardson had told his players to wear down Deane.

“Yeah, we tried,” he said. “We tried to wear them all down.”

It worked. Deane, fellow starting guard Curtis Staples and Burrough, the heart and soul of the Cavaliers, were a combined 16 of 45 from the field.

“We were looking for a breaking point,” said Richardson, who earlier received a phone call from Georgetown Coach John Thompson, who told him to “play ugly.”

Arkansas got both--a weary Deane as the weak spot and another less-than-artistic victory. The Razorbacks, though, couldn’t care less about appearances.

“It’s definitely a lot sweeter,” said Thurman of the back-to-back Final Fours, “because we overcame a lot of doubts. We overcame a lot of criticism.”