The Associated Press

Call it the Wild West Regional.

Sunday, March 19, 2000

Call it the Wild West Regional.

Wisconsin stopped Arizona, Gonzaga knocked off St. John’s and Purdue beat Oklahoma to make it a clean sweep of the top three seeds in the suddenly wide-open regional.

Mark Vershaw scored 15 points as eighth-seeded Wisconsin upset top-seeded Arizona 66-59 on Saturday in Salt Lake City.

On Arizona’s home floor in Tucson, Matt Santangelo scored 26 points as No. 10 Gonzaga beat No. 2 St. John’s 82-76, and Jaraan Cornell scored 13 of his 15 points in the final 9:30 in No. 6 Purdue’s 66-62 victory over No. 3 Oklahoma.

Wisconsin successfully slowed the pace against speedy Arizona.

”I’m not sure I can adequately describe how good we feel or how proud I am of this team,” coach Dick Bennett said. ”They accepted the game plan and employed it as close to perfect as humanly possible. To defend a good shooting team like Arizona is something I’ll remember for a long, long time.”

The Badgers limited the Wildcats to 39 percent shooting.

”It was a tough lesson to learn,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said. ”It was very obvious that the better team won this game from the standpoint of maturity and toughness.”

Maurice Linton scored nine of his 14 points in the final 2:57 for the Badgers (20-13), who won two games in an NCAA tournament for the first time since winning the national championship in 1941.

Arizona (27-7), the 1997 champion, is the first No. 1 seed to lose in the second round since Rhode Island beat Kansas in the 1998 Midwest Regional.

Freshman Gilbert Arenas led the Wildcats with 21 points.

”I’m not sure I can adequately describe how good we feel or how proud I am of this team,” coach Dick Bennett said after the Badgers successfully slowed the pace against the speedy Wildcats.

”They accepted the game plan and employed it as close to perfect as humanly possible. To defend a good shooting team like Arizona is something I’ll remember for a long, long time.”

The Wildcats, who favor an uptempo pace, had a 6-4 record when scoring in the 60s this season, but were limited to 39 percent field-goal shooting against the nation’s fourth-best scoring defense.

”It was a tough lesson to learn,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said. ”It was very obvious that the better team won this game from the standpoint of maturity and toughness.”

Gonzaga, which reached the West final a year ago as the 10th seed, shouldn’t be considered a sleeper anymore.

”We’re still fighting for respect,” Santangelo said. ”Any label you put on us means we’re still playing and we’re still winning. That’s what counts right now.”

Santangelo made 6-of-10 3-pointers, including three in the final eight minutes as the Bulldogs (26-8) pulled away.

Erick Barkley led St. John’s (25-8) with 21 points.