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A Wildcat fan walks into a bar, sits down and examines the menu.

"What'll it be?'' the bartender asks.

"I'll have a Bud and a Bayless.''

After a month of deep-dish worry, Wildcat fans will drink to that.

Down 20 before the popcorn cooled off Sunday afternoon, the Wildcats needed a shot or two of composure before they gathered themselves — and perhaps found themselves — in a fearless comeback against No. 9 Texas A&M.

Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger

were a 2007 version of Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire, unafraid and unstoppable. The tougher the situation, the better they played.

Set 'em up, barkeep. The Aggies fell, 78-67.

Except for the rare 20-point deficit, it was Arizona basketball the way we have known it for 25 years. It was a revealing game that exposed the very soul of Kevin O'Neill's fragile young club. You had to like what you saw.

"We had a hit-first mentality,'' said Budinger, who scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half. "They only scored, like, what, 15 points in the second half?''

Close enough; it was 27. The way the Wildcats played, it seemed like 15.

Bayless was the best player on the floor, dispensing a brassy 26-point performance in which he pushed the accelerator to the floor and kept it there. He was so aggressive that he made 10 free throws (in 10 attempts), which was as many as the entire A&M team.

Home-cookin', perhaps? Pac-10 refs?

For whatever reason, the three officials who worked Sunday's game were right out of the Final Four. All three — Verne Harris, Dave Libbey, Bill Kennedy — have worked a national championship game. So, no, it wasn't some rookie crew from Pocatello, Idaho, allowing Bayless and the Wildcats to have their way.

"We weren't tough enough tonight,'' said Aggies coach Mark Turgeon. "I had to call three timeouts just to keep us in it.''

The Wildcats have responded not only to the absence of Lute Olson but to off-season charges of being softer than facial tissue.

Inside Bayless' locker cubicle was taped an 8x11 inch sheet of quotes from Virginia guard Sean Singletary, whose late-game toughness negated an Arizona comeback as the Cavaliers stole a late-game decision here two weeks ago.

"We knew we would come back and beat them,'' Singletary's quote read in letters large enough to read from 10 feet away. "We knew from the start that they weren't tough and wouldn't fight.''

Rather than declare that he has arrived, or that his team has passed an exam of manhood, Bayless did not posture.

"I am a soldier on Kevin O'Neill's team,'' he said. He all but dropped to the floor and began a push-up drill. His only veiled reference to the Virginia game came when he said, "We lost tough games against Virginia and Kansas; I don't know if we should have lost those games.''

Learning from their earlier mistakes, the Wildcats didn't take a possession off in the final 20 minutes. They couldn't afford it. O'Neill basically used a six-man rotation in the second half, with Nic Wise

taking over at point guard, and Bayless and Budinger creating offense wherever possible.

After its flat start, Arizona played with a fury. You'd have thought UCLA's Ben Howland

was pressing the coaching buttons.

Given the physical nature of the game, and the importance of each possession, it was a game in which a young team such as Arizona might be expected to crack. But unlike crunch-time cracks against Virginia and Kansas, the Wildcats got better as the game matured.

The Aggies rarely had an open shot in the final 30 minutes; after opening 12 for 17 afield as they roared to a 20-point lead, Texas A&M made just 13 field goals the rest of the game. And only then did Arizona's defense rest.

UA athletic director Jim Livengood

was so impressed (and perhaps relieved) that he made a rare post-game visit to the sports information office to embrace O'Neill.

The longer Olson remains a practice-only observer/consultant, we assume that this is O'Neill's team and it will take on his personality. That much was apparent Sunday. The Wildcats eschewed open-court offense and settled in to A&M's screen-and-cut style and beat them at their own game.

Olson typically beat good teams by making them play his up-tempo game, or by simply out-manning them. O'Neill beat Texas A&M because he was able to get his team to play with more urgency than the Aggies.

Sometimes you don't need the best players. Sometimes you can win because your "want to'' is greater than their "want to.''

And on Sunday, Arizona wanted to.