Arizona

WILL PARKS now has a new opinion about how much influence college coaches have on high school football players' decisions. "I always thought it was 80 percent," he said. "Now I'm going with 85. " The 6-1, 175-pound Parks, a first-team Daily News All-City defensive back from Germantown, has switched his commitment from Pitt to Arizona. He gives much of the credit to assistant Tony Gibson, who recently joined Arizona's staff and beforehand coached at - you got it - Pitt.

Being a 500 million-to-1 shot to win the NCAA tournament, the Red Flash of St. Francis figured to be only a flash in the pan against second-seeded Arizona last night in the West Regional. St. Francis had little height and no tournament experience. It didn't even have a pep band, having to borrow a trombone, saxophone and drum section from Seton Hall. Too bad the Red Flash (24-8) couldn't have borrowed any of Seton Hall's players. Still, St. Francis hardly played scared as a No. 15 seed.

Arizona avoided a first-round loss for only the second time in its last five trips to the NCAA tournament when the Wildcats routed Valparaiso, 90-51, on Friday. That earned third-seeded Arizona (25-6) the right to meet sixth-seeded Iowa (23-8) today in the second round of the Western Regional. Iowa came from 12 points down in the closing minutes to slip past George Washington, 81-79. The last time Arizona avoided a first-round upset, in 1994, the Wildcats reached the Final Four.

SEATTLE - Tarvaris Jackson put Seattle in the lead with a bulldozing, 11-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Kam Chancellor sealed the victory with an interception of Kevin Kolb with a minute 1 minute, 4 seconds left in the Seahawks' 13-10 win over Arizona on Sunday. Jackson went through a day when Seattle's fickle fans alternated among cheers, boos and chants for backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst. They were all screaming when Jackson bullied his way in for the go-ahead TD run in the third quarter, yet were back to booing Jackson minutes later when the Seahawks (1-2)

Matt Scott threw two touchdown passes in the final 46 seconds, and the college bowl season started with a wild one when Arizona rallied to beat Nevada, 49-48, on Saturday in the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque. Overcoming a slow start and three big turnovers, Arizona (8-5) recovered an onside kick in the last minute, setting up Scott's 2-yard toss to Tyler Slavin with 19 seconds left. Arizona trailed by 21-0 in the first quarter and was down by 45-28 entering the final period.

Tatum Brown had a career-high 30 points and Julie Brase scored all 17 of her points in the second half as No. 19 Arizona defeated Colorado State, 89-75, last night in Tucson, Ariz. Trailing by five points at halftime, Arizona opened the second half with a 16-3 run en route to a 76-60 lead. Colorado State never got closer than 10 points after that. St. Joseph's 77, Temple 37 - Jana Lichnerova and Angela Zampella each scored 16 points to lead host St. Joseph's (4-10 overall, 1-0 league)

Arizona has spent its entire season weathering storms of one type or another, so the Wildcats consider these game-ending tempests in the NCAA Tournament just another interesting day on the court. To everyone else, however, their march to an improbable Final Four berth has proceeded in the most improbable way. This time, it was Providence eating up Arizona's 10-point lead in the final 3 1/2 minutes to not only send the Southeast Regional final to overtime, but actually have 3.9 seconds at the end to steal it in regulation.

Take that, you critics of Pac-10 basketball. And that. And that. Arizona, once the punching bag of that much-maligned conference, has made it to the Final Four. And the Wildcats (35-2), who play Oklahoma (34-3) tonight in the second game of the NCAA Tournament semifinals at Kemper Arena, would like nothing better than to score another knockout for the rest of the schools in the mild, mild West. "How many teams east of the Mississippi are in the Final Four?" Arizona coach Lute Olson wanted to know yesterday.

Scott Bordow, East Valley Tribune columnist: Back in August, I predicted the Cardinals would finish 7-9. In early December, I wrote that they were an immature, lazy team that didn't know how to handle success. And, truth be told, I wasn't sure they would beat the Atlanta Falcons in the wild-card game, much less go to Carolina and thump the Panthers. So, yes, I've been one of those media types the Cardinals have used as a punching bag these last couple of weeks.

The final buzzer sounded, and Arizona star Mike Bibby found himself at ground zero, walking straight through a mob of deliriously happy Utah Utes. It had been like that all afternoon - the Utes closing in, Bibby with nowhere to go. That's your first clue about how the NCAA West Regional final went yesterday at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. Here's another clue: The first question for the victorious coach was about whether he liked Tex-Mex food. Rick Majerus will be in San Antonio for the Final Four this week, snacking through news conferences, humbly and humorously talking about how his Utes shocked and shellacked Arizona, the defending national champion, 76-51.