MINNEAPOLIS— And here Arizona thought its football-playing days were over.

The Wildcats advanced to the Final Four thanks to a win last weekend over a physical Illinois team that finished the game with six post players on the bench with five fouls.

Tonight, Arizona battles another Big Ten team — and this one practiced in shoulder pads and helmets one day.

“Yeah, we did that last year,”admitted Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo with a laugh. “It probably ended up the most fun drill I ever did. The guys had a riot.”

The good news for Arizona is that even the Spartans don’t play as rough as the Illini.

“I’m not sure that anyone is necessarily more physical than Illinois,”Wildcats head coach Lute Olson said. “But Michigan State goes after it.”

The defending champion Spartans, at 28-4, enter the national semifinal game with the best rebounding numbers in the nation. Only once the entire season, against Iowa, has Michigan State been beaten on the boards. For the tournament, Michigan State owns an 18.5 rebounding margin per game.

“When we started it, we did by necessity. We weren’t making a lot of shots, and the only way to combat that was to go get the ones you missed,”Izzo said of how the rebounding tradition began several seasons ago. “It’s been a characteristic of this program, and it’s one I think the players are a little bit proud of.”

It’s also one that opponents are wary of, and Arizona big men Loren Woods, Michael Wright and Richard Jefferson are tasked to hold their own underneath.

But those three, along with talented guards Gilbert Arenas and Jason Gardner, will try to combat Michigan State’s strength with the Wildcats’ (27-7) quickness.

All five Arizona starters average in double figures, led by brilliant guard Arenas. The sophomore averages 16.5 points a game. Michigan State’s Charlie Bell (13.8) will try to contain Arenas in one of several intriguing matchups.

Most confusing will be the Richard-Richardson duel. Spartan guard Jason Richardson, who leads the team in scoring at 15 ppg, will match up with Richard Jefferson, a small forward.

“I would say that every one of the positions is a key matchup,”Olson said. “Just by looking at the teams, you can the tremendous balance.”