Arizona

What: NCAA tournament championship gameWhere: RCA Dome, IndianapolisWhen: Tonight, 9: 12Line: Kentucky by 7How they got here: Kentucky defeated Montana, 92-54; Iowa, 75-69; St. Joseph's, 83-68; Utah, 72-59; and Minnesota, 78-69. Arizona beat South Alabama, 65-57; College of Charleston, 73-69; Kansas, 85-82; Providence, 96-92, in overtime; and North Carolina, 66-58.Conference record: Kentucky finished 15-3, second in the SEC East. Arizona finished 11-7, fifth in the Pac-10.Ranking: Kentucky was No. 5 in final AP poll, Arizona No. 15.NCAA tournament record: Kentucky is 77-34 in 39 appearances with 12 Final Four trips and six championships.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Under a shadow of mountains, cactus and blood-red Arizona fans, chanting, "U of A! U of A!," the University of Miami went down like a wounded gunslinger yesterday, ambushed in the desert.A dynasty lay sprawled. A rising challenger stood tall, strutting into the sunset after a shocking Fiesta Bowl rout: Arizona 29, Miami 0."They just kicked the living heck out of us," said Miami coach Dennis Erickson, whose No. 10 Hurricanes (9-3) completed their worst season since an 8-5 record under Jimmy Johnson in 1984.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- They had carried Arizona to its first Final Four in six years. And going into yesterday's semifinal against Arkansas, everyone knew that Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire would have to carry the Wildcats.They couldn't.While the Arizona backcourt combined for 36 points in a 91-82 defeat to the Razorbacks, they also missed 32 of 43 shots and, except for Stoudamire's three-point shot to tie the game at halftime, were not much of a factor from long range.Reeves, who had been averaging close to 30 points a game in this year's NCAA tournament, finished with 20 on 6-for-19 shooting.

WASHINGTON -- When a broad proposal for school reform that included state-paid vouchers for private schooling got on the ballot in California last year, proponents touted the vote as a prospective national breakthrough. It would be, they said, like the state's 1978 local property tax limit that foretold the nationwide taxpayers' revolt.The only trouble was that the initiative got buried under an avalanche of opposition from the teachers' unions and allies. The California proposal not only would have created vouchers of $2,600 per child for parents choosing to send their kids to private schools; it also would have permitted creation of "charter schools" established and staffed by individuals without traditional education credentials.

PhoenixPOLITICALLY speaking, it's raining in the Valley of the Sun.As Arizona's physical beauty and climate continue to attract newcomers in droves -- Phoenix's 40 percent growth in the 1980s topped all metropolitan areas -- its political sleaze has created a morass of public cynicism toward all politics.A local police sting operation that earlier this month bagged seven state legislators and several others around the state capitol was only the latest of a chronology of corruption and political confusion to rock the state in the last three and a half years:* A recall drive in 1987 and then the impeachment and removal from office in 1988 of Republican Gov. Evan Mecham on charges of misuse of state funds and obstruction of justice.

What: NCAA tournament semifinalWhere: RCA Dome, IndianapolisWhen: Today, 5: 42 p.m.TV: Ch. 13, 9Latest line: North Carolina by 5 1/2How they got here: Arizona received an at-large bid out of the Pacific-10, then beat South Alabama, 65-57, and the College of Charleston, 73-69, in the Southeast Regional at Memphis; defeated Kansas, 85-82; and Providence, 96-92, in overtime at Birmingham, Ala. North Carolina won the ACC tournament for an automatic bid, then...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- At NCAA tournament games, there's a cooling-off period during which teams wind down before meeting the media.Loyola didn't wait until after its first-round game against Arizona yesterday to cool down. The Greyhounds went ice cold from the field during a six-minute scoreless stretch of the first half that doomed them and helped the Wildcats, who didn't need any, to an 81-55 victory before 16,477 at the Arco Arena.In order to have any shot at upsetting the No. 2 seed in the West Regional, Loyola had to shoot well, but the Greyhounds made only eight of 34 shots in the first half, warmed slightly in the second and ended with a .279 percentage (19 of 68)

TEMPE, Ariz -- The Washington Redskins keep losing, but they insist they're not losers.They suffered another frustrating defeat yesterday when their defense once again couldn't hold a lead with the game on the line, but they seemed to be almost upbeat after the game.This time, Arizona moved 61 yards to set up Greg Davis' 27-yard field goal as time expired and give the Cardinals a 17-15 victory.Davis' field goal trumped Chip Lohmiller's 21-yarder with 2:54 left. It was the seventh time this year the Redskins (2-12)

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- It wasn't rugged Western individualists who defeated Arizona's attempt to designate a holiday for the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. earlier this month. It wasn't even native Arizonans, of whom there are relatively few.It was New Yorkers, Georgians, Ohioans and all the other people who have transplanted themselves and their Eastern, Southern and Midwestern attitudes into Arizona during the last four decades. Today they dominate the population and politics of a state whose eccentricities truly can be called All-American.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Miles Simon is not a student of college basketball history, recent or otherwise. The Arizona junior guard had no clue who "Danny and the Miracles" were when former Kansas star Danny Manning and the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks were mentioned to him on the eve of last night's NCAA championship game.But Simon is now part of that history, and so is Arizona.Just call them "Miles and the Miracles, Part II."With Simon outplaying Kentucky star Ron Mercer, and with the underdog Wildcats outshooting their more famous and favored nickname-sakes here at the RCA Dome, Arizona beat the defending national champion in overtime, 84-79, and gave long-maligned coach Lute Olson his first national championship.