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San Antonio — The NCAA Tournament is supposed to be unpredictable. This one went just as planned for Kansas.
When the going got tight, the Jayhawks were going to make Memphis take free throws. The Tigers did not live by the free throw in compiling the most wins in NCAA history. But they sure died by them Monday night.
They missed four straight when one might have gotten them a title. That kept Kansas alive long enough for what seemed inevitable at that point.
Mario Chalmers made a three-pointer with two seconds left. That sent the game into overtime, but it already had been decided. You could see it on the faces of Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose. They knew they'd blown it and handed critics all the ammo they needed.
The rap on Memphis was it had great talent, but its wild-shooting ways eventually would catch up with it. The predictable finish came at the end of a game that pretty much went as both teams hoped and feared.
Kansas hoped its fleet of athletes could contain Memphis' offense. Except for Douglas-Roberts doing a George Gervin routine in the first half, the Jayhawks frustrated the Tigers' slashers.
Memphis hoped it could stay close if that happened. It did, and then Rose took over.
He missed Sunday's news conferences after apparently overdosing on Gummy Bears Saturday night.
The upset stomach may have accounted for his 1-for-4 shooting in the first half. Whatever it was, Rose then turned back into the phenomenon he was all tournament. He scored 10 straight points, including a splay-legged bank-in as the shot clock went off.
That gave Memphis a 56-49 lead, and set up the most predictable part of the evening. Kansas started fouling and Memphis started missing.
It didn't happen right away. But in the last two minutes, John Calipari's prediction did not come true.
He said the Tigers' 60.7 free-throw percentage in the regular season didn't matter. Considering they were 38-1, it was hard to argue.
But this wasn't a January Conference USA game at UCF.
Calipari said tough guys make tough free throws when the pressure is on. Memphis made 20 of 23 in its semifinal win over UCLA, but only Rose and Douglas-Roberts shot them. When they had to make them Monday, the tough guys didn't.
They call Douglas-Roberts CDR, but CPR was what he needed. The Tigers missed five straight in the final two minutes. Their frustration was obviously building. After an offensive rebound and timeout, Douglas-Roberts slammed the ball down. It bounced about 20 feet in the air, and everybody held their breath.
Would the refs dare call a technical with 13 seconds left? Douglas-Roberts swiveled his head with a pleading look on his face.
The refs converged on him, and one of them patted his chest.
He appeared to tell CDR to calm down. He should have reminded him and Rose how to relax and make their free throws.
The freshman missed two more with 10.8 seconds left. Down zipped the Jayhawks with a chance to tie. Chalmers did that, and depression set in on the Delta.
Memphis was so caught up in the Tigers that Graceland had been bathed in blue lights the past week.
Turn out the lights, the party's over. As predicted.
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Jayhawks up for ESPY honors July 1, 2008
Bill Self at the White House June 3, 2008
KU Jayhawks honored at the White House June 3, 2008
Comments
Yahweh (anonymous) says...
Hindsight is 20/20.
I'm glad this writer knows so many obvious points that we, non-journalists, couldn't have come up with. Sheesh.
Columnist = give me a writer with a pencil and a dumb opinion and I'll show you a man who needs broken lead and a mouth full of duct tape.
BTW, what is up with this "Jayhawk Nation" stuff?
We're not the Red Sox. Let's come up with something better.
April 10, 2008 at 1:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Speakeasy (anonymous) says...
The writer had a brain fart at the end of the column when he says "The freshman missed two more with 10.8 seconds left." In actuality, Rose made one of two to bump the margin to three points. Guess the writer got so caught up in his thesis that Memphis lost because of missed free throws that he convinced himself they missed them all. I am in continual amazement at the misinformation that makes its way into print.
April 10, 2008 at 7:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jacqueshock (anonymous) says...
I read the print edition the next morning. The sports page had Chalmers on the front with the headline "Fowl Up." I also noted the mistake about Rose missing 2 FT's.
Whitley is actually a pretty good columnist, coming over from the Tampa Tribune several years ago.
The thing I noticed about the Sentinel is that it consistantly picked against Kansas whenever possible. It had Georgetown advancing to the Final Four. It had to pick KU against Davidson, but then had KU losing 86-75 to UNC. In the Sunday edition, Dave Curtis, writing in the colleges column, stated that Monday's national championship game would be a 10-point dud. He did not say who would win, but I guarantee he was not talking about Kansas.
April 10, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KUbsee69 (anonymous) says...
Opportunistic journalism.
If Mario had missed "the shot", then they would be saying that Calapari executed the perfect end game.
Oh, well, I guess they have to say something to get paid.
April 10, 2008 at 9:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AzHawk97 (anonymous) says...
CDR was 6/9 from the line, and that was just a little below his average.
Rose was 3/4, which was a little above his average. So what's the big deal about their free throw shooting? It's not like they went 12 for 30.
I do like that he brought up the no call on the technical, which by my count should have been the third T of the game on Memphis. Has anyone brought up Dorsey running down court with the ball under his arm with #1 in the air after a made basket. WTF?
April 10, 2008 at 10:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wissoxfan83 (anonymous) says...
I don't recall the part about Dorsey, when did that happen?
April 10, 2008 at 11:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
d_prowess (anonymous) says...
I actually like the Jayhawk Nation label that people have been using. My wife and I travel a lot and we always see people in Jayhawk shirts or comment on the ones we are wearing. We are nationwide!
April 10, 2008 at 11:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AzHawk97 (anonymous) says...
I'm not sure exactly when in the second half Dorsey delayed the game after his dunk, but it was so blatant even Packer said he got away with it. And while I would give CDR the benefit of the doubt for his slamming the ball down, Dorsey was just being himself, an a$$, just like running into Cole in the first half. In hindsight I'm glad that the refs didn't call any of them. We won without any of the calls, and it was consistent with the refs letting them play throughout the game.
April 10, 2008 at 12:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dylans (anonymous) says...
We also got away with a few no calls. But our players are so classy they never put themselves into a situation where they could have a T called on them. Dorsey should've had 2 T's and PBR 1 for slamming the ball down. Dorsey's play caught up with him as he fouled out. This being said, I wouldn't change the outcome of the game for anything. WOW!
April 10, 2008 at 12:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pmohr13 (anonymous) says...
I agree with the refs with the no call on CDR. You as a ref can't call that with 13 secs left, maybe if there was more time on the clock(say 4 min left) you could call it but that would have changed the outcome dramatically. That being said I'm glad they didn't call it because we won, National Champs!!!!!
April 10, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BCRavenJHawkfan (anonymous) says...
I might also remind everyone that one of the Memphis players purposely undercut B Rush on a breakaway dunk early in the game. To me, not only should Rush be at the free throw line but we should have been awarded posession.
April 10, 2008 at 1:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ChicagoJHawk (anonymous) says...
I am absolutely ecstatic that we won but to say that game was predictable is absolutely ridiculous, it was anything but predictable!
Whitley, if it was so predictable why did you have to wait until after the game to write this article??
"He said the Tigers' 60.7 free-throw percentage in the regular season didn't matter. Considering they were 38-1, it was hard to argue." - no it's easy to argue. They play in a weak conference, in which it's easy to shoot bad free throw percentages and still get away with it. It amazes me that Calipari would say free throws don't matter. You're playing in the national tournament, every team is good!!
April 10, 2008 at 1:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )