Rock, Chalk, Championship

My apologies for the pun in the title, but I kind of enjoyed Jim Nantz's call at the end of the game. Until last night, Stephen Curry and Davidson's magical run as well as a lack of close games were the stories of this year's NCAA tournament. That all changed with Kansas' phenomenal 75-68 overtime win over Memphis in the national championship game, which was easily one of the three most exciting title games in my lifetime. Before the finale the tournament had been rather unspectacular, with 42 of the 62 tournament games being decided by 10 points or more. But now, all anyone who watched last night's will remember about the 2008 tournament is the finale.
People will want to make a big deal about Memphis' struggles from the free-throw line (and I suppose a 1-5 effort by Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose in the final 75 seconds is kind of important) as well as the review of Rose's bank-in three-pointer, which was later ruled a two after review (give the officials credit for getting the call right), but all the credit has to be given to Kansas. Down 60-51 with 2:12 to go, Bill Self's Jayhawks could have folded the tent and given up. Instead, Kansas made all the plays down the stretch and took advantage of some key Memphis mistakes to force overtime. Sharron Collins was clutch with his steal and subsequent three-pointer, as was Darrell Arthur with a big basket with a minute to go. And of course, you know about Mario Chalmers' three-pointer to tie the game. That shot will be remembered for as long as the NCAA tournament is played. He will never have to buy a beverage (alcoholic or otherwise) in Lawrence, Kansas again.
Throwing out all the heroic individual efforts on both sides (Derrick Rose will be taken in the top three of the NBA Draft if he chooses to leave school), Kansas simply played better. Memphis only scored 4 fast break points, and none of those came in the final 25 minutes. Kansas made Memphis play at a pace that was better-suited to the Jayhawks, and KU got much better contributions from its bench players. John Calipari used his bench sparingly, and his players ran out of gas in overtime.
Give credit to both teams for playing an instant classic. Douglas-Roberts and Rose deserve credit for almost willing the Tigers to the title, but Self and his players deserve most of the credit. They never gave up and are deserving champions of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.