Kansas Wins the National Title

Memphis totally choked this game away but it wasn't only because of poor free throw shooting. As a team Memphis shot 12-19 (63%) and Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose made 9 of 13 from the line. Unfortunately for Memphis those 4 misses all came in the last minute and 15 seconds of regulation. And since CDR and Rose are actually pretty good free throw shooters, it's pretty clear that the pressure got to them.


But Memphis made several more undisciplined and downright foolish plays that cost them the game as well.

First of all the turnover with 1:50 which led to a Sherron Collins 3 that cut the lead to 4 from 7. That was when the game really changed, when Kansas's players believed they could win, and when Memphis's players believed they could lose.

The big mistake was not fouling as Kansas brought the ball up on that final possession. John Calipari says they were trying to foul but Collins got separation from Rose and when he finally fouled him the refs didn't call it.

Coach Cal is lying. You can clearly see Derrick Rose close enough to foul with about 6 seconds left, but he backs off and raises his hands to avoid the foul. Cal should have called a timeout after Rose made the second free throw to set his defense and repeat his strategy. He obviously knew Kansas had no timeouts left and he didn't want to give them the advantage of being able to draw up a play. He thought his guys would know what to do, they didn't.

In overtime Memphis took 3 3 pointers at various times when down 4 points. They would have been much better served by getting a layup, or something closer to the basket, even if it took up more time.

And the biggest mistake was CDR fouling Chalmers with 45 seconds left and Kansas leading by only 3. Play good defense and you have at least a chance to tie. Huge mistake by CDR.

But we have to give a lot of credit to Kansas. They played a great game, and they made all the plays they need to make to come back in the game.

Chalmers's shot will go down in the history books.



You think in his living room Bill Raftery shouted "onions?"

I think it was great that the officials reviewed that shot by Rose and got it correct. I know some people (Memphis players, coaches and alumni) may not like the retroactive reversal of the call but it was clearly a 2 and it would have been a lot worse had it been allowed to stand and that point gave Memphis the win.

Fittingly this game took place on the 20th anniversary of Kansas's last championship when Danny Manning led "Danny and the Miracles" over Mookie Blaylock, Stacey King and Oklahoma.



Jim Nantz's canned lines are so corny and contrived that someone should tell him to just react instead of ruining the spontaneity of the moment with something like "Rock Chalk Championship."

I think his best one was 2003 when he said "Syracuse is your National Champion."

I think Billy Packer was even making fun of him when he referred to the last overtime title game (1997, Arizona over Kentucky) as "The Simon Says Championship" game.

Does Jim Nantz really think these lines are good, smart and entertaining?

Billy Packer is good, smart and entertaining. I have no idea why so many people hate him. He's the only announcer willing to point out players' shortcomings. I can't even imagine how anyone could watch a basketball game done by Packer, and one done by Vitale and not think that Packer is by far superior.

Although Papa Poop and I had a good laugh when Packer said Kansas knows about overtime in title games because of the triple OT game in 1957.

A lot of people complained about the lack of exciting games during this tournament. Maybe I'm biased because I view every tournament as my child but I loved this year's Big Dance. I thought it was refreshing to see all four #1s for a change. I thought even though some games didn't go down to the wire, they were enjoyable because the quality of play was high. But I hope everyone viewed this championship game was one for the ages.