Rock Chalking Good Time

For having two lopsided National Semi-Final games, the 2008 Men's Basketball Championship game gave people one of the most unexpected finishes in Tourney history. On the 20th anniversary of Danny and the Miracles (and the 25th Anniversary of Jim Valvano and the NC State Wolfpack), the Kansas Jayhawks made one of the most impressive comebacks in NCAA history... While Memphis made one of the all-time great collapses.

If you watched the end of this game thinking, "Great. NOW they start missing free throws. Where was this in Round 2?!"... Join the Club.

With about 2:30 left in the game, I (like many others) had completely written off Kansas and any hope of a comeback. Memphis was rolling, and I was just about to enjoy my newly purchased MLB Extra Innings package (which, ironically, could end up being the cause for a collapse of my own when Final Exams roll around). However, just as I was about to flip over to Indians/Angels, Joey Dorsey fouls out. At the time, I thought to myself, "OK, well they are up seven. Still not much of a chance for a comeback."

And then, the floodgates opened.

Kansas gets fouled and makes a pair to get within 5. Chris Douglass-Roberts does his best Nick Anderson impression by missing four straight free throws in the last two minutes. Derrick Rose splits a pair of free throws that would have won the game. And Mario Chalmers hits a three pointer that will be forever mentioned in the same breathe as the Laettner turn-around and the afore-mentioned NC State Wolfpack dunk to win the game.

It was as if Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS had taken on basketball form, with John Calipari playing Grady Little to Joey Dorsey's Pedro Martinez. Once Dorsey had to come out of the game, all hell broke lose. All of Kansas' points in the OT came from lay-ups or put-backs from the Jayhawk front line... all types of shots that Dorsey had either contested or routinely blocked throughout the game. It allowed KU to complete one of the all-time great comebacks in Championship game history.

Somewhere, in Memphis, the Mario "Bleeping" Chalmers T-Shirts are being printed as we speak.

When the dust from this game settles, Jayhawk fans will see that this game will have been the deciding factor in Bill Self's decision to stay at Kansas, even with a coaching vacancy at his alma mater OSU... That and, of course, the big fat check Kansas is about to write to keep the man to bring them their first Championship on 20 years. The NBA Draft will come calling for the services of Rush, Chalmers, CDR, Rose, and Dorsey, and Coach Calipari will be left wondering if this will have been the best shot for a championship at Memphis that he will get.

And Then There Were Four....

The 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball tourney has now been cut from 65 to 4, and if you are like me, you couldn't be more disappointed with the way it turned out. This is the first year in the history of the tournament that all 4 of the No. 1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four. It means that all those people who filled out a bracket and played it conservatively ended up making out like a lotto winner. It also means that those people who actually watched the regular season games, put some thought into their bracket, and did a little reading up on the mid-major teams had already set fire to their precious picks at the end of Round Two. You might say I'm a little bitter... but wouldn't you be bitter if you were losing in a family pool to people twice your age who didn't see a single game all season? (No offense, Grandma!)

However, as the tourney always does, it gave us some great moments. Stephen Curry went from relative unknown to household name overnight, Tyler Hansborough proved why he is one of college basketball's all-time greats against Louisville, and Xavier showed that there is no substitute for senior leadership. And it also gave us a Final Four that we might one day look back on as the greatest of All-Time. It's like getting to see the Rookie/Sophmore challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend 2010 before it happens. Now, I know that is putting a lot of pressure and hype on this group of four. But when you put these rosters together on the same table it is a scout's dream. Two top 5 picks (Rose and Love) headline the bunch, while at least 5 other players (Rush, Collison, Lawson , Douglas-Roberts, Mbah-a-Moute) look to be first round picks.

Note on Lawson: If not this year, he is a definite first rounder in 2009

Starting with the Kansas/UNC match-up: As I said earlier this month, this match-up defines the phrase "heavyweight bout." Both teams are so deep, with NBA type talent at all positions. UNC has Hansborough, but KU can counter with Jackson, Arthur, and Kaun in the front court. UNC can throw Ty Lawson (arguably the quickest end-to-end guard in the country) at KU, but they counter with Mario Chalmers. These teams do a fantastic job of mirroring each other till about the 8th roster spot, which is absurd. I like the depth of KU, but they were almost beat by a much undersized and outmatched Davidson team. Davidson played on the same level with KU for 39 minutes in the Elite 8. UNC's pace will present more problems for KU than did Davidson's, so I like UNC in this game to beat KU.

Now with UCLA and Memphis: Earlier this year I didn't think anyone on Memphis could hit a free throw to save their lives. Turns out Coach Calipari was just to hustling Conference USA and all the other teams in the field, as if to say "Free Throws? Yeah, I was just saving that skill for a good time." And now is as a good a time as any. The Tigers shot over 70% against MSU and Texas and cruised to a Final Four appearance on back to back MOP type performances by Derrick Rose. UCLA, on the other hand, struggled in the early rounds but really turned it on against Xavier and Western Kentucky. Kevin Love is the real deal, averaging over 20 pts and 10 boards for the Tourney. Both Love and Rose are as good as gone at the end of the season, headed to glory as NBA Lotto Picks (helloooo, Miami!). But I believe it is Rose and the free-wheeling style of Memphis Coach John Calipari that gets the job done against an experienced UCLA team. Three straight Final Four appearances are all well and good, but I got a feeling Love and Co. are going to be sucking wind, playing defense against Calipari's Shuttle Run Offense.

In any event, these teams (statistically speaking, with the exception of maybe Tennessee) have been the four best teams all year. I doubt I could've asked for better match-ups than the ones coming up this weekend.

... Even if that means Grandma takes down the pot in my pool.