SAN ANTONIO — Lute and Bobbi Olson used to unwind from the intensity of every basketball season by taking a trip, the more exotic the better. For this April, they'd picked a resort in Mexico.
The vacation won't be the same for Olson because his wife of 47 years died Jan. 1 of ovarian cancer. He's still going, but his traveling companion will instead be his daughter Christi.
Now the good news: Lute can't start packing yet.
Olson's Arizona Wildcats beat Illinois 87-81 Sunday to earn their first trip to the NCAA Final since winning the national title in 1997.
"It's difficult," Olson said. "Part of the emotion is that I'm so pleased for our guys to have to go through what they've gone through to achieve their season's goal."
Arizona was No. 1 in the preseason and players talked about going down as one of the all-time greatest teams. Then suspensions to starters Loren Woods and Richard Jefferson shook up the Wildcats, and the death of Bobbi Olson shattered them.
They were 8-5 after 13 games. Then they began their run to Minneapolis, winning 19 of 21 including the last 10.
"We went through a lot of struggles all year," said Gilbert Arenas, who led Arizona with 21 points Sunday, 18 in the first half. "We set a goal before the season to get to the Final Four, and it looked rough for a while. But we are very grateful to be here now and having the opportunity to reach our goal."
Arizona (27-7) will play defending champion Michigan State in a national semifinal Saturday. The Spartans, who play a bruising style similar to the Illini, beat Temple 69-62 Sunday. ACC rivals Duke and Maryland will meet in the other Final Four game.
"It's going to be a great Final Four," said Olson, who will be going to his fifth, four with Arizona. "I'm impressed by everyone that's there. I don't think there's anybody that is there that doesn't have a chance, including ourselves."
Arizona's victory upheld the honor of the Pac-10, which saw Stanford and Southern Cal get bumped in regional finals Saturday. The Wildcats are the conference's first team to make the Final Four since Stanford in 1998.
Top-seeded Illinois (27-8) got this far by playing a bruising defense, and from the beginning it was obvious they were trying to shut down the 7-foot Woods and power forward Michael Wright.
The aggressiveness got the best of the Illini in the second half as Arizona took 42 free throws after halftime. The Wildcats hit 42-of-56 in a game that featured 59 fouls.
"We didn't back down at all," Arizona's Gene Edgerson said. "That would've been the talk after the game, that Arizona got manhandled. We didn't want to have any of that."
Arenas, who had 13 points on 6-of-23 shooting in two previous games against the Illini, made 7-of-10 in the first half and the Wildcats hit 56 percent of their shots. He missed all three of his second-half shots.
Woods, who had seven blocks, was 3-of-3 from the field and 12-of-13 from the line. Jefferson had 10 points, but his biggest contribution was helping hold Illinois' Frank Williams to nine points, 21 less than he scored two nights before.
"It seems like they came out very aggressive on me and put somebody much bigger guarding me to stop me from shooting over them," said Williams, the Big Ten player of the year. "I think Arizona's depth was the key. They kept putting different people on me. It made it real tough."
Robert Archibald led Illinois with a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds. Cory Bradford bounced back from a wretched 1-for-13 game in the regional semifinals to hit 8-of-14 shots, including 6-of-11 3-pointers. He scored 22 points.
Illinois was trying to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 1989. The loss also prevented a second straight Big Ten showdown in the semifinals. Michigan State beat Wisconsin last year.
"We didn't get any breaks today," Illini coach Bill Self said.