ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Underdogs? Not the way the West Virginia keeps knocking out some of college basketball's heavyweights.

The seventh-seeded Mountaineers extended their stunning run in the NCAA tournament with a 65-60 win over Texas Tech Thursday in the regional semifinals.

"We're not one of those powerhouses - Duke or North Carolina - yet," said guard Patrick Beilein after the Mountaineers' latest win over a higher-seeded team. "We like being under the radar. We just got hot at the right time."

Just about everything is going right for the Mountaineers (24-10) in March. Next up is a battle with Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals in Saturday's regional final.

The Cardinals (32-4) beat No. 1 seed Washington 93-79 in the other semifinal.

"They have great players. It seems like everybody is a fullback or a power forward," West Virginia guard Mike Gansey said.

The Mountaineers haven't been intimidated by size or seedings so far.

Once a bubble team and no better than an eighth seed in the Big East tournament, they beat Creighton in the first round, took out No. 2 seed Wake Forest in double overtime and knocked Bob Knight and the Red Raiders out of the NCAA with another clutch, down-to-the-final-minute win.

The Mountaineers are in a regional final for the first time since 1959 - the year Jerry West led them to the national championship game.

"It's just huge for our state and huge for our program" said Kevin Pittsnogle, whose two free throws with 17.2 seconds left sealed the Mountaineers' sixth win in seven games.

"Thrilled. It's the best word I can use to describe it for our state, our university and especially our players," coach John Beilein said.

Pittsnogle scored 22 points, the final two coming from the free-throw line to make it 64-60. Before stepping up to the line, Pittsnogle got a mental assist from his coach.

"Coach told me to think about my wife," said the recently married forward. "That kind of cheered me up, and I didn't think about anything else."

Beilein said he got the tip from talking to sports psychologists.

"They always say to make them feel relaxed and happy," Beilein said. "I said 'You have a wonderful wife and family. Think about that while you're out there.'"

They needed something good to think about after watching a 62-55 lead dwindle to two points. The Mountaineers won despite not scoring a field goal over the last 3:54.

Pittsnogle carried the Mountaineers down the stretch and his 3-pointer with 6:10 left put West Virginia ahead to stay at 56-53.

But the Red Raiders (23-11), battling for their first trip to the round of eight, didn't go down easily. A three-point play by Jarrius Jackson and a layup by Devonne Giles - his first points since the opening minutes, cut West Virginia's lead to 62-60 with 1:17 left.

With the Mountaineers on their heels, Pittsnogle bailed them out. Jackson stole the ball near midcourt and raced in for a layup, but Pittsnogle blocked it with 57 seconds remaining. In the battle for the loose ball, the Red Raiders got three offensive rebounds and four shots, but all missed.

"That's exactly how I thought the game would go," Knight said. "I did not think it was going to be easy at all to score against them."

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A great coach like Rick Pitino can make a huge impact from the bench. A pair of top-notch guards like Nate Robinson and Tre Simmons most definitely cannot.Pitino devised a plan to get Washington's top scorers in foul trouble and Louisville got a combined 10 3-pointers from Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean to defeat the Huskies in the NCAA regional semifinals Thursday night.Pitino's instruction to penetrate, then kick the ball out, was a double-whammy for top-seeded Washington (29-5). It got the Huskies guards in foul trouble, and also led to a total of 11 3-pointers for the Cardinals (32-4), who improved to 24-1 this season when they make at least seven from long range.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Salim Stoudamire's last-second jumper went through, while John Lucas' bounded off the rim. That's why Arizona's moving on in the NCAA tournament and Oklahoma State's headed home.It's also why Lute Olson now has a chance at another Final Four, and his 700-win coaching counterpart, Eddie Sutton, doesn't. Not this year."It was a great basketball game. Too bad somebody had to lose," Sutton said.Stoudamire hit an off-balance jumper with 2.8 seconds to go Thursday night, sending Arizona to a 79-78 victory in the Chicago Regional semifinals, a win secured when Lucas' potential buzzer-beater from the corner hit the rim and went off.Stoudamire scored 10 of his 19 points over the final 4:35 - six on a pair of 3-pointers well beyond NBA distance - after battling foul problems in the first half.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - A Wisconsin-Milwaukee fan held up a sign with Alabama and Boston College crossed out, and Illinois next on the list.Sorry, not on this night.Not with Deron Williams and Dee Brown scoring from inside and out, making their teammates look good with some of the prettiest passes Chicago has seen in 20 years, and playing some downright nasty D.Williams and Brown combined for 42 points, 10 assists and three steals. Williams finished with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and also had eight assists. Brown scored 15 of his 21 from 3-point range, and was 7-of-12 from the floor.Defensively, they helped limit the Panthers (26-6) to 39 percent shooting and made leading scorer Ed McCants ineffective. McCants finished with 13, but was just 4-of-17 from the floor. Joah Tucker scored a career-high 32 points, but got little help from anyone else.The top-seeded Illini (35-1) are going to need another big night Saturday, when they play third-seeded Arizona for a chance to go to their first Final Four since 1989. Arizona knocked off Oklahoma State 79-78 on a last-second, off-balance 3-pointer by Salim Stoudamire.