Kansas’ Number Is Up

Rarely is victory so thrilling, defeat so crushing and fate so unkind.

Is it fair that a freshman point guard should outplay a senior All-American who quoted Robert Frost when he put off the NBA for another crack at this? Or that a sophomore with race-car driver initials should outrebound a senior All-American? Or that mutton-chopped Scot Pollard, in his last collegiate game, should score zero points?

Kansas will wonder why until the cows come home in Lawrence.

And it won’t change a thing. The record will forever show that Mike Bibby outplayed Jacque Vaughn on Friday night, that A.J. Bramlett strafed center Raef LaFrentz, that Pollard tossed up a goose egg, and that Arizona defeated No. 1 Kansas, 85-82, before a disbelieving crowd of 17,647 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.

With the win, Arizona advances to Sunday’s Southeast Regional finals against Providence and Kansas recoils into post-tournament desolation.

Arizona? It finished fifth in the Pacific 10 conference race.

“It was Kansas and those other guys,” Wildcat guard Miles Simon said.

Kansas won 34 games, lost one in double overtime and Friday’s by three, but will be remembered for throwing it all away in Birmingham.

Roy Williams, the best coach never to win a national title, passed the baton to Arizona’s Lute Olson, maybe the second-best coach never to have won one.

Williams saw the storm warnings: Jerod’s Haase aching back and cracked wrist; Vaughn’s bout with bronchitis.

But it didn’t make it any easier.

“I told them that life isn’t necessarily always fair,” a red-eyed Williams said afterward. “They had a fantastic, fantastic season, a dream season, but we fell short of our dream.”

Kansas nearly pulled off a miracle, rallying from a 13-point deficit with 3:26 left to get three shots at overtime in the final seconds.

Billy Thomas fired first and missed, followed by Ryan Robertson. Then, at the buzzer, LaFrentz’s desperation shot from the corner clanked off the rim.

The game, as many figured, was a mismatch: Kansas’ strength versus Arizona’s quickness.

“And quickness won out,” Williams confessed.

The Wildcats, who almost started celebrating too early, had to be calmed by Bibby, who a year ago was playing in the Arizona state high school championships for Shadow Mountain.

It was Bibby who calmly made two free throws with 18 seconds left to give his team a three-point cushion.

“We were hanging on by our fingernails at the end,” Olson said.

Arizona (22-9) led by 10 with 1:52 left, then held off a furious Kansas comeback. Robertson cut the lead to eight with 1:40 left, LaFrentz cut it to six with 1:31 remaining, Thomas cut it to three with his three-pointer with a minute left.

After Bibby made a shot in the lane, Thomas bombed home another three to cut the lead to two with 36 seconds left. Jason Terry’s two free throws built the lead back to four, then Robertson’s three-pointer cut it to one with 21 seconds left.

Bibby then made the most important free throws of his young life, forcing Kansas to shoot threes in the end.

Bibby finished with 21 points, 10 in the last seven minutes, and five assists. Vaughn had eight points and five assists, and made two key turnovers in the final minutes.

“I said it from the start,” Arizona’s Olson said of Bibby. “He does not play like a freshman.”

Olson could not have squeezed more from a senior-less lineup. Only Simon played significant minutes in the Wildcats’ regional semifinal loss to Kansas last year.

Simon finished with 17 points Friday. Junior Michael Dickerson had 20.

Bramlett played four minutes in last year’s game. Friday, he continued his Dennis Rodman imitation, finishing with 12 points and 12 rebounds while holding LaFrentz to 14. Bramlett has 43 rebounds in three tournament games, and no one is really sure why.

Arizona’s inside game was supposed to be its weakness. But Bramlett and friends used their quickness to foil LaFrentz and Pollard inside.

Only Kansas’ Paul Pierce, with 27 points and 11 rebounds, was able to solve Arizona’s defense.

“We do not want this to end, we’re having so much fun,” Olson said.

Williams had a different view.

“I’m going to keep knocking on the door,” Williams said. “And one of these days I’m going to knock the sucker down. If it’s a failing with Roy Williams, I hope I can find it.”