Kansas Jayhawks Win 2008 NCAA Tournament as Memphis Snatches Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

The odds of a sixteeen seed in the NCAA Tournament beating a one seed are better than those of all four number one seeds making it to the NCAA Final Four. In the 2008 NCAA Tournament, all four sixteen seeds went down in the first round, as usual. Then, in an unprecedented development, all four number one seeds, North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA and Kansas won their respective regionals and sailed into uncharted waters. Three number ones had made it a handful of times into NCAA basketball's premier showcase, the Final Four, but never all four. Until 2008.

In Saturday's semi final games, the fast paced Memphis Tigers, led by superb guards Chris Douglas-Roberts and freshman Derrick Rose, throttled the defensive minded UCLA Bruins.Memphis controlled the game almost from start to finish, making Bruins heralded Kevin Love look more like his Uncle Mike of the Beach Boys. Rhonda could do nothing to help the UCLA Bruins and the Memphis Tigers had fun, fun, fun and took the Bruins T-bird away in winning easily.

In the second contest, which figured to be an evenly matched game, the Kansas Jayhawks could do no wrong in running out to a 40-12 first half lead, shocking the favored Tar heels and their newly crowned National Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough. Hansbrough, nicknamed "Psycho T" looked more like Norman Bates of Alfred Hitchcock's 60's classic Psycho as played by Anthony Perkins. Hansbrough repeatedly tried to force shots over 2 and three defenders leading to shot blocks, turnovers, and fast breaks for the Kansas Jayhawks.

Andy Katz of ESPN and other analysts tried to sugercoat the situation, defending North Carolina coach Roy Williams and saying the lopsided score was due to breaks or shots falling for Kansas. Bunk! Bill Self of Kansas thoroughly outcoached Williams in my opinion. Self had his team mentally and emotionally prepared, Roy Williams did not. Williams is a great coach but sat with a cheshire cat grin on the North Carolina bench until the game was well out of hand. Yes, the Tar Heels made a second half run and got within four points late before running out of gas, but the Kansas lead should never have reached 28 points.

Its no disgrace to lose to a number one seed at any point of the NCAA Tournament, but number one seeds just don't often get thumped as North Carolina did with their season landing with such a thud.

In the NCAA Championship game Monday night, Kansas controlled most of the first half with both squads seeming to feel one another out. the Kansas Jayhawks led 33-28 at the half with Derrick Rose of Memphis seeming lethargic and often confused. Apparently the star freshman had been ill the day before the game and was still feeling the effects of the flu or something. Rose came alive late in the game scoring 14 of his team's 16 points in one stretch, finishing with 18, but in the end it wasn't enough.

With Memphis leading 60-51 with just 2:12 left, the Tiger reverted to form at the free throw line, missing four of five from the charity stripe in the last minute. Kansas, on the other hand, hit their last thirteen free throws to finish 14 of 15 for the game. Not to take anything away from the Kansas Jayhawks, they finished the season an impressive 37-3, tying the NCAA single season mark for most wins, after all. The other two teams that won 37 games did not win the NCAA Championship, making it all the more impressive.

Make no mistake, however, Memphis lost this game as much as Kansas won it. The Memphis Tigers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, blowing a nine point lead with little over two minutes on the clock. Any team with a nine point lead with that amount of time on the clock should win, no exceptions, no excuses. The Memphis Tigers finished the game hitting 12-19 from the free throw line, not good, but not that bad.

Other than missing four of five in the last minute, Memphis was 11-15 which is good, but the Tigers didn't hit free throws when they needed them most. Chris Douglas-Roberts clanked all three of his misses for the game in the last minute, not following through on any of the ill-fated attempts. Joey Dorsey of Memphis committed a silly foul away from the basket to foul out. Memphis could have used Dorsey inside in the late going. Derrick Rose only had one free throw miss, but it cost the Tigers a chance to take a four point lead with 10.8 seconds left. Rose's miss allowed Kansas a chance to tie the game with a three pointer, and Mario Chalmers of Kansas was glad to oblige.

The Kansas Jayhawks quickly seized control in the overtime after Chalmers tied the game with 2.1 seconds left in regulation. The Jayhawks never looked back at their good fortune and held on to win by a score of 75-68. Memphis Tiger fans are still looking for their first NCAA Championship and they have to be physically ill after watching their team blow a nine point lead in just over 2 minutes on the clock.

It was a great game, better than most NCAA Championship games in recent years and congratulations are due to the underrated Kansas Jayhawks, the 2008 NCAA Champions.