“Rock Chalk Championship.”

Memphis 78 – UCLA 63

UCLA jumped out to a five nothing lead. That about covers their highlights. Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose dominated the game, with a combined 53 points and a dozen rebounds, while Joey Dorsey added 15 rebounds, oddly with no points. The first half was close. Memphis used a six point run, midway through the first half, to open a seven point lead, and never led by less than the three point half time margin. Russell Westbrook, who would finish with a team high 22, kept the Bruins in the game, while Luc Richard Mbah a Moute contributed 13 rebounds. The second half started with Memphis scoring the first six points, then maintaining a seven to ten point spread most of the half. From seven minutes on in, UCLA stopped scoring til the game was far out of reach. When the Bruins began fouling, Memphis cashed repeatedly from the line, outscoring UCLA 20 – 11 from the charity strip, and shooting 87.0% for the game.

Kansas 84 – North Carolina 66

The late game brought a lot of attention because of Tarheel Coach Roy William's long run as the Kansas head man. It says something that he was sitting court side, during the Championship game, wearing a Jayhawk golf shirt. After the way Kansas spanked his team in the Semi-Finals, he would have been well justified in being miffed. It was the ultimate game of runs. Kansas charged out to a 40 – 12 lead, based of outstanding backside defensive help, and arm loads of low post scoring, led by six each from Darrell Arthur and Cole Aldritch. It was so bad that, with 7:42 to play in the first half, Billy Packer said, “the game is over.” Then it was North Carolin's turn. As Kansas'  Coach Bill Self put it, “We went brain dead...” Led by Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington, and aided by the Jayhawks sloppy play, the Tarheels closed the 28 point gap to only five. Danny Green had a good look on a 3pt shot, which would have brought the lead down to two, but it rimmed out, and Kansas reeled off the next four points, to get some breathing room. With 5:10 to play, Wayne Ellington made a basket to bring the Tarheels within six, but they would not score another basket til only 18 seconds remained, and Kansas had a 21 point bulge. Down the stretch Brandon Rush outscored the entire North Carolina team, to finish with 25. In typical Jayhawk fashion, four players finished in double digits, while defense contributed ten steals and nine blocks.

National Championship Game

Kansas 75 – Memphis 68

What can you say about an instant classic? Simply put, this was one of the best games of the decade.

 The two blow out wins in the semis contributed some drama at tip off, and the game was close almost throughout. The point where it was not close is almost as interesting, because it came on a buzzer beating 3pt shot from Derrick Rose, and expanded Memphis lead to eight points, for the first time. But during a the next time out, the referees determined, from the replay, that Rose had his toe on the line, and removed a point from the board.

It would prove a very large point. With 2:12 to play, Robert Dozier made two free throws to push the lead to nine, and seemed to seal the win for Memphis. However, Kansas answered with a Darrell Arthur basket, stole the inbounds pass, and converted only their second 3pt shot of the night, to close to four. After trading pairs of free throws, the Jayhawks strategy finally paid off, when Chris Douglas-Roberts missed the front of a one and one chance. At the minute mark, Darrell Arthur pulled Kansas to within two points. Both defenses stepped up with stops, and Douglas-Roberts was again at the line for a pair, but missed both, but Robert Dozier had an offensive rebound on the second miss. Shortly, Rose ran the missed free throw string to four, but hit his second, to put the margin at three. For remainder of his life, people will be asking Mario Chalmers about what happened next. Moving to his left, at the head of the key, covered by two defenders, Chalmers squared to the basket, and drained a deep three point shot, to tie the game. Kansas then forced Rose to give up the ball, raising images of the regional final against Steven Curry and David son, so regulation ended with a half court heave by Dozier.

Over time was almost a let down. Kansas had found their offensive stride, and Memphis was off theirs. Kansas rolled off the first six points, then iced it with four straight free throws in the last minute. Chris Douglas-Roberts was high point man for the game, with 22, while Derrick Rose added 18 points, eight assists, and six rebounds. Rose was very instrumental when Memphis pulled out to its nine point lead, late in regulation. For Kansas, Darrell Arthur led four players in double figures with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Mario Chalmers, with 18 points, three steals and the game tying 3pt shot, was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player.