Associated Press Arizona's Salim Stoudamire, left, and Wyoming's Jason Straight stretch for a loose ball in the first half in the second round of the NCAA West Regionals in Albuquerque, N.M., Saturday. The Wildcats advanced to the Sweet 16, where they will face Oklahoma on Thursday, with the 68-60 victory over the Cowboys.

Freshmen key to driving Arizona deeper in tournament

Perhaps if Arizona would not have beaten No. 2 Maryland and No. 5 Florida to start out the season, surviving the first weekend would have been a surprise. But the youthful Wildcats are hopeful that the Sweet 16 is only the beginning.

"All year long, myself, Luke (Walton) and Rick (Anderson) talked about getting back to the Final Four," junior guard Jason Gardner said. "We have an opportunity to do that."

For the seventh time in the last 12 years, head coach Lute Olson and his Wildcats are headed to the Sweet 16 - four games away from a national championship.

The regional berth comes as a surprise to many, considering preseason expectations were shaky at best.

What started as a quest just to make the NCAA Tournament after a mass exodus of talent from last year's team to the NBA has turned into a successful combination of youth and experience.

This year's team has a similar recipe to the 1997 championship team that featured a green starting lineup that was supposed to be the team of the future, not the present.

There is also an uncanny similarity to the fashion in which the Wildcats are advancing, though not by much.

In 1997, Arizona did not win a tournament game by double digits. Two of the games went into overtime and four of the six games were decided by five points or less.

Thus far this year, UA has a five-point victory over UC Santa Barbara and an eight-point win against Wyoming.

Freshman forward Dennis Latimore said although the team is not blowing opponents out, at this point, a win is a win.

"We played down to our competition," Latimore said following the win over Wyoming. "In the back of our mind we know that if we lose, we are done."

Head coach Lute Olson did not criticize his team for the method of winning, though he did say he would like his team to show a bit more dominance.

"We played as well as we needed to, to get the two wins," Olson said. "We made the shots and the free throws we needed to make."

Though comparisons have been between the two squads, Gardner is quick to point out there is a lot of work left for Arizona to do.

"Coach O talks about the 1997 team once in a while," Gardner said. "(Olson) mentions no one was looking at them and talks about not finishing first in the (Pacific 10 Conference), and finishing the season 19-9. In a way it could be like that, but we still have Oklahoma on Thursday."

Beating the No.2-seed Sooners promises to be difficult.

In fact, Arizona has never beaten Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament.

Olson is 0-2 against the Sooners, the latest defeat coming in the first round of the 1999 tournament.

But just about this time in March of '97, UA was preparing to match up against No. 1 seed Kansas in the Sweet 16 - another team Arizona had never previously beaten.

Until 18-year-old freshman point guard Mike Bibby scored 21 points - 10 in the closing minutes - despite being matched up with Jayhawk All-American Jacque Vaughn.

Vaughn finished with just seven points in an 85-82 loss to the Wildcats.

It would be the first of three No.1 seeds Arizona toppled on the way to the title.

So as talk of fate and destiny buzz around this year's squad, Olson's players seem to be focused on the task at hand, which is just what Olson wants.

"The young guys understand that this is the time you better be ready to put together 40 minutes," Olson said.