By
Keith Carmona
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The senior center shakes critics by earning spot on All-Midwest Regional Team
SAN ANTONIO - As Loren Woods climbed up the ladder to cut off his portion of the net, a smile beamed across his face.
Teasing the few dozen photographers surrounding him 10 feet below, he faked as if to cut a piece but then backed away.
Finally, he cut his portion, raised it above his head as the Arizona fans in the Alamodome chanted his name.
Jumping off the ladder, Woods found senior forward Gene Edgerson who opened up his arms and the two embraced for nearly a minute.
Quite a scene for arguably the most criticized player in college basketball this season.
But at long last, basketball is fun for Loren Woods.
Now that the Wildcats' team captain has led his team to the Final
Four, it is Woods who is having the last laugh.
"This is something that I have dreamed of throughout my whole childhood," Woods said. "It doesn't matter who said what or how I played earlier in the season because my game is on right now. And I can't think of a better time to be streaking.
Yesterday morning, a columnist from the San Antonio Express-News said Woods, "plays with the flickering weakness of a marionette. Ten years in the (NBA), for this stiff, is a dream."
"I don't care what the paper says," Woods said. "I am going to the Final Four, so they will have to be writing about me next week. They will see me on TV next Saturday, which is something not many can say at this point."
The senior finished his weekend in San Antonio by earning a spot on the All-Midwest Regional team after scoring 18 points and blocking seven shots against an Illinois team that was supposed to overpower him.
The Illini may have pushed his 7-foot-1, 240-pound frame, but it wasn't without a cost.
Woods helped usher six Illinois players to the bench with five fouls - which he converted to 12 points from free throws.
"Loren was the man tonight," Edgerson said. "He took to the free-throw line with so much poise and executed so well. I could not be any more proud with what he has done because if anyone deserves this Final Four, it is Loren."
Woods has had the epitome of a roller-coaster season. But since the weekend before the NCAA Tournament, he's been living up to the expectations so many held for him at the season's outset.
And now the days of postgame self-pitying comments seem worlds away.
"Loren is our leader on the court," sophomore forward Luke Walton said. "In the last five to 10 minutes of the game, he was unbelievable. He did everything that a leader and a captain needs to do to keep the team going."
In the waning seconds of last night's game, Woods blocked a Cory Bradford shot that could have put the Illini within three points.
After grabbing several rebounds, he coolly took rough fouls from multiple UI big men, where Woods responded by sinking four late free throws.
Not bad for a center, who isn't supposed to be an ace from the line.
"I go through the same routine every time," Woods said. "I bounce the ball three times, take a deep breath and shoot."
He got plenty of practice because early in the evening, Illinois' game plan became fairly obvious.
"They were going to keep coming and coming, regardless of who is in the lane," he said. "They wanted to score inside and it didn't matter if I was in the paint or it was Shaq standing there - they were going to the basket."
When Woods faces Michigan State Saturday, the Spartans are expected to run a gameplan similar to Illinois. But the reinvigorated Woods isn't backing down to the challenge.
"I am feeling so good about myself and my team, I am not sure there is anything that can tear me down," he said. "Bring on Michigan State, bring on the defending national champions because we're hot and we're on right now. Minneapolis, here we come."
