All grats to KU!

[BlooInBloo]

Team won versus talent. Memphis had all the chances in the world, but they (i.e. Rose) went all Kobe and made the game 1 on 5, and predictably lost. Stephen Curry can be forgiven for that, since he's always his team's best option. But Rose needs to learn, like Kobe only learned this year, that his own value *increases* when his other 4 are in the game.

Yah, Dorsey fouling out didn't help, but that wasn't the loser for them.

EDIT: KU, by contrast, kept plugging away, never veering away from the team concept. None of them will be as good as Rose, but then again, Rose will never have an NCAA championship. Tradeoffs.

[Mabus]

1. It was a great game

I was worried several times. Wow! Just wow! Memphis is a great team. This is one of the best games that has ever been played for the championship.

[BlooInBloo]

2. I didn't think it was possible for Memphis to punch themselves out, but they did...

... psychologically, even if not physically (tho mebbe physically). It seems to me they expected for it to be just over when they got their lead, and didn't have anything left in their hearts when KU came back to force OT. Rose gave up on his team (dishes/oops from him to his teammates were GOLD and woulda continued to be) and he went down the Kobe road - the best player on the floor, and on the losing team.

MJ had to learn it, AI had to learn it, Kobe had to learn it - they all have to learn that being the best single player on the floor isn't enuff against a good TEAM. It's too bad Rose has to learn it this way (assuming he does learn from this).

[Mabus]

3. Don't take anything away from Memphis

I have a lot of respect for Memphis. It helped that Dorsey fouled out. It was an unbelievable game.


The best thing for is that Calipari is a Jayhawk too. He did a great coaching job. He really did.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Oh no - not taking anything away from Memphis. Was a battle of largely similar styles...

... and largely similar talent. The difference between them came out when each was under STRESS. When KU was stressed, they remained a 5 man team. When Memphis became stressed, they became a 1 man team. The stress levels were high on both sides, approx equal, as were the talent levels. Just saying - that's something really important that Rose can take away from this game. Or mebbe he won't, and he'll end up being a Johnny Dawkins, Shawn Kemp, etc. (among the most rawly talented ppl on the court, but completely ineffective in what remains fundamentally a TEAM game.)

Or to approach the same point from a different direction: That's why the best 2 people to ever touch a basketball are Wilt and Jordan. They're the ONLY two people who could consistently destroy any need for team. Neither could win a championship by themselves of course, but those two came closest, with 3rd being DISTANT. No matter how skilled Kobe seems to young'uns, he'll never approach Jordan's solo ability. It is wonderful that nevertheless Kobe did (eventually) realize that, as good as MJ or not, he needs other players.

But in any case, was an EPIC battle of wills essentially - and KU just plain beat them. More like a boxing match than anything it seems to me, in the abstract. Except Patterson won - lol. Or like UNLV/Duke - except imagine if Duke had the talent that year to punch back appropriately.

Many analogies capture some of the issue - hard to find one that gets it all. Federer/Nadal comes close perhaps.

[Mabus]

6. I'm prouder than ever to be a Jayhawk

We don't give up.
First the football team in the Orange Bowl, now this. This is a banner year to be a Jayhawk.

[BlooInBloo]

8. It's like they were Princeton + talent. Just chugging away... ahead or behind...

... Memphis blinked. They didn't have to, but they did. Mighta ended same anyway, of course.

[Mabus]

9. I hope Roy learned something about using timeouts

:rofl:


It was a helluva game. One helluva game.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Best thing about it to me is that if you play those last 3 games again...

... you'd likely end up with different games each time. All of the last four were just that good. The most overall parity I've ever seen in a final four.

[Mabus]

11. No kidding

I'm just happy it turned out the way it did.

[nolabels]

12. Don't kid yourself, KU had a deeper bench

Memphis came close but ran out of ammo when Dorsey fouled (bench problem). The other factor is that three's were not falling for KU because their legs were tired because running off NC. I thought KU was going to get killed by NC after that close game with Davidson but guess Davidson really was kind of good

[Mabus]

15. LOL

Yeah, we had a deep bench but they're also like stallions who like to run. They've been a little unstable from time to time.
The reason the bench was so deep was because we have a helluva coach in Bill Self. He stressed fundamentals and got them focused for this tournament.

Yeah, Davidson was pretty good.

I'm so proud of these kids. I really am. I remember a few years ago when my husband and I were in downtown Lawrence. There were rumors about Russ Rob and Alex Galindo wanting to leave. Well, we ran into them. It was a Sunday and Lawrence is a little sleepy on Sundays because the majority of the stores are closed down. My husband and I were walking up the sidewalk and he pointed out Galindo and Russ Rob up the street. They were standing in front of a store and we ended up talking to them for a few minutes. I told Russ Rob that when we watched them play we called him "cuz" because my husband's last name is also Robinson. He thought that was hysterical. He gave us a hug and told us he liked that because coach was always telling them that the Jayhawks were a family. We did some more small talk and then told them we had better go as we were meeting friends at La Parilla for lunch. We got a couple of stores away when we heard Russ Rob yell out "see you around cousins". I just love those kids. I really do.

[Botany]

4. One of the best games I have ever seen

Rock Chalk JayHawk!

Gotta make them free throws.

[Mabus]

7. Have I ever told you that you're my fave?

:loveya:

Member of the Proud Jayhawk Nation since birth. The Phog Phlock wouldn't give up.

[Awsi Dooger]

13. I was rooting for Calipari

Team vs. team I had no preference but I won so many bets on Massachusetts when they were an upstart team under Calipari that I've always wanted him to get a title. He looked stunned in the postgame presser, and it will only get worse.

I have no idea how basketball coaches can handle that job. I've always said the two jobs I would never want are airline pilot and basketball coach. In one, if you don't go 100% for your life you're dead and a disgrace. I'm so erratic there's no way I'm going 100% in anything. Basketball coach might be even worse, having to stand there calmly while your fate and reputation are determined by charge/block calls, and whether or not a free throw rims out or in. No thank you. Look at this thread, assertion of team and individual. Give me a break. Meanwhile, the team failed to box out and get the most vital rebound of the game. They were bailed out at the stripe. Nothing more.

When Memphis was up 9 with 2 minutes left they literally were at least 15/1 favorite to win. That's why it's more than amusing when Kansas fans are saying they were worried a time or two. I really don't think they have any idea the odds they overcame.

The key possession was 60-53 when Memphis failed to get it inbounds, and it turned into a steal and a 3. Otherwise, Memphis shoots 1 and 1 up by 7 and the pressure isn't stifling at that point. They probably make them and seal the thing. I'm sure the market sites like Intrade went haywire with shifting percentages, after that 3 pointer and during the final minute.

Amazing how the two biggest team titles decided so far this year have switched fortunes in the final seconds, the Super Bowl and now this. As a Dolphin fan I'm thrilled to accept this version as opposed to Pats/Memphis, but damn I feel bad for Calipari. All game it looked like Kansas was deeper and more versatile and stronger inside, but somehow Memphis managed a 9 point edge.

And all Belichick had to do was mumble a few words in an awkward post game interview lasting about 20 seconds. Calipari really impressed me, answering every question and injecting plenty of insight.

[erpowers]

14. Congrats To KU-Roy Williams and the Vest

I disagree with you about Rose. I do not think it was Rose that cost them the game. The team's free throw shooting is what lost the game. Toward the end of the game KU was brave enough to force Memphis to shoot free throws even though they (Memphis) had made most of their previous free throws. Near the end of the game the Memphis team just could not make free throws and KU was able to make shots at the end of the game, especially the clutch three made by a KU player. So in my opinion, it was the fact that KU was clutch at the end of the game and Memphis was not, that allowed KU to win the game. KU never seemed to panic near the end of the game and once they got the lead in overtime they kept it.

On another note, how do Kansas fans and UNC fans feel about Roy Williams wearing a KU vest to the game? I know he coached at Kansas for 15 years and only allows players who come to his camps to wear either UNC gear or Kansas gear, but should he have worn a KU vest when he is the coach of UNC. It seems to me that if I were a player at UNC I would have been upset seeing my coach wearing the gear of the team that had just beaten us in the final four. So, how do others feel?

[BOSSHOG]

16. On Roy and the Vest

I agree with your assessment. If I saw Frank Broyles wearing a Texas Longhorn logo at a football game I would have stormed the athletic department on campus. I think Roy was trying to make nice with Kansas since his departure from Lawrence was short of professional. However, I believe the Kansas fans probably enjoyed seeing him in the stands then on the bench coaching last night, and the game probably didn't generate much interest in North Carolina.