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Jayhawks Win NCAA Championship Title
Kansas defeated Memphis in an amazing overtime victory to win the 2008 NCAA men's college basketball championship.
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April 8, 2008 (FPRC) -- Kansas overcame Memphis in a miraculous comeback in the championship game, 75-68. Trailing by 9 points in the last 2 minutes of regulation, Kansas tied the score on Mario Chalmers' long 3 point shot with 2.1 seconds remaining. This was their first NCAA championship victory in 2 decades.
This was only the second loss of the year for the Tigers. They seem to have it in the bag with a strong second half performance. Derric Rose scored 15 of the 17 points for the Tigers, putting them in the lead.
They have been plagued by foul-shooting most of the year.
The Jayhawks claimed their 3rd NCAA championship title, continuing the momentum from Chalmers' shot into overtime, scoring the first 6 points. Douglas-Roberts scored 22 points, hit a trey with less than a minute left, cutting the Kansas' lead to 3 points at 71-68. Chalmers then hit a pair of free throws. There was only one game in the Elite 8 that was decided by less than 10 points. Both Final Four match-ups involving only Number 1 seeds were one sided.
The free throw line is an unthreatening place. No one challenges a shooter as he offers up 15 foot shots. The Jayhawks dominated this area, converting 13 consecutive foul shots down the stretch. They finished the night 14 for 15 from the line.
Free throw shooting is the one area that tormented the tigers all year, even as they were setting a single season NCAA record for victories. They were 12 of 19 from the line for the game. The costly 1 for 5 effort down the stretch in regulation was on account of their 2 top players, Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts.
It was a great game with a great finish. Kansas had so many great plays, including Chalmers, their best clutch player made a great clutch play at the end. He got himself in position for the game tying 3 after Sherron Collins worked his way through the Memphis defense.
Memphis scored points quickly and performed well. However, Kansas fought the good fight and prevailed. Brandon Rush kept Douglas-Roberts under control even though he scored 22 points. Russell Robinson and Collins were all over Rose most of the game. Simeon finished with 18 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. However, he shot 7 for 17 overall and 1 for 6 on 3 pointers while committing 5 turnovers. Darrell Arthur scored 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Jayhawks and Darnell Jackson had 8 and 8. They had their way in the blocks and their defense limited Memphis to 40.3% shooting overall.
Memphis' own defense was equally stout which was why the led by 9 with only 2 minutes remaining. However, then came a steal by Collins, a jumper by Arthur, a 3 pointer by Collins and suddenly Kansas was only down 4. Douglas-Roberts made 2 free throws, as did Chalmers, which is when things went bad for Memphis.
With 1:15 left on the clock, Douglas-Roberts missed the front end of a 1 and 1. Arthur dropped a right baseline jumper. Douglas-Roberts missed a pair and then with 10.8 seconds remaining, Rose missed his first of 2 shots but made the next. This left the door open for the Jayhawks. Chalmers took a pass from Collins and hit the 3 that sent the game into overtime. Rose finished with 18 points on 7 of 17 shooting with 6 rebounds and 8 assists.
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Keywords:
NCAA, championship, title
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