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Opposing columns: Arizona vs. Stanford

By Brett Erickson Arizona Daily Wildcat At 8:37 tonight, when Stanford and Arizona tip off at McKale Center, college basketball fans across the country will get what they've been starving for all season - a quality game between two classy programs that actually matters. On paper, Stanford should win by at least 10 points. The Wildcats are without star center Loren Woods and Richard Jefferson is still trying to find his niche in the Arizona line-up. Plus, the team is not only battling the nation's best defensive team, but also the ghost of last weekend's sweep in Oregon. The game, though, is not played on paper, its played on a court named after one of college basketball's best strategists. Ignore the records, forget the rankings and dismiss the hype. It's game time. Arizona will knock off Stanford tonight for the second time this season because of three reasons - a balanced offense, poise and pride. Imagine being in head coach Mike Montgomery's shoes. Who do you focus your game plan around? Double team Michael Wright down low, and Jason Gardner and Gilbert Arenas beat you from the behind the arc. Pressure the freshmen guards at mid-court, and they drive right passed you. Play a zone defense, and Luke Walton finds a lane to the basket. Justin Wessel has also proven against UCLA and ASU that he is capable of picking up the slack when he's needed. And, it's only a matter of time before RJ gets in his groove. Besides possessing a balanced attack, Arizona also has proven they can hang with the nation's elite teams. The Wildcats beat Kentucky, Michigan State, Texas and Stanford this season. True, Arizona has lost to New Mexico, Oregon State and Oregon, but that just demonstrates how the team plays to the level of its opponents. In crunch time, Arizona is one of the most poised teams in the country, as it proved in Palo Alto back on Jan. 8. Finally, the Wildcats have something to prove. Not to the NCAA selection committee, not to the rest of the Pac-10, not to Lute Olson, but to themselves. They know that man for man, there isn't a team with more talent this side of Chapel Hill. If the Wildcats take care of the obvious factors - limiting their turnovers, staying aggressive on the boards, and keeping out of foul trouble - UA students will have their first opportunity to storm the Lute Olson Court.

By Jim Tankersley Stanford Daily Let's start with some sympathy. Stanford fans know Corvallis is a tough place to play, having watched Oregon State ambush the Cardinal at the close of last season, and The Pit in Eugene is perhaps the harshest environment in college basketball. We feel your 0-for-Oregon pain. Really. And we feel even worse that Stanford is going to prolong your misery tonight. There's many reasons to think we're wrong, of course. Arizona did beat Stanford earlier this year, and a Cardinal win in Tucson is as rare as an Arizona national champion graduating. The Wildcats haven't lost three regular season games in a row since Lute Olson's first year. But Arizona won't win this one. Not with a healthy Mark Madsen in the Stanford lineup and an ailing Loren Woods in street clothes on the Arizona bench. Give Olson credit. He's made the best with a limited roster this season and, in January, devised a game plan that set Stanford back on its heels. His team dominated the game inside and out, and they deserved to win by a lot more than three points. But Woods was a huge factor in that contest, and Madsen was a shell of his Mad Dog self in only his second game back from a thigh injury. The Cardinal All-America candidate has come a long way since, and his match-up with Michael Wright down low should be a war. With Wright on Madsen, though, Arizona will be hard pressed to guard either of Stanford's other standout big men, Jason and Jarron Collins. And if the Wildcats try to help out overmatched Justin Wessel by doubling down from the wing, Stanford's outside shooters will be happy to make them pay. Defending Arizona's guards could be the Cardinal's toughest task, but don't bet on the nation's top field goal defense - which let UCLA shoot better than 60 percent from the field in the second half of Stanford's loss Saturday - faltering two games in a row. With Casey Jacobsen and David Moseley both shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range and Michael McDonald distributing the ball as well as any point guard in the conference, Stanford's offense has revved into high gear. Look for the Cardinal to score a lot of points inside and outside tonight. Without Woods, the Wildcats won't have the bodies to stop them or the firepower to keep pace. But Arizona fans take heart: Your misery should end against Cal on Saturday