SAN ANTONIO — This did not turn out to be the artistic matchup of rapid-moving, efficient basketball that many people anticipated. This was not 50-50 at halftime, as were Kansas and Oklahoma when they decided the 1988 national championship, but rather Kansas 33, Memphis 28 when the intermission was reached Monday night at the Alamodome.
"I think that our length bothered them, and I know their length bothered us," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Both teams take great pride in not giving up any easy baskets. Regardless of what anybody thought, I knew it would not be one of those [high-scoring] games.
"I felt our guys were in tune of understanding if you let Memphis get out in the open court and run, their execution goes to a different level. So, we were hoping it would be a grind-it-out game."
It was grind-it-out, not high-octaine, but that didn't prevent Kansas and Memphis from providing one of the greatest title games in the 70 years the NCAA has been deciding a champion.
There haven't been title games played where you could find this many ultra-talented, extra-competitive players on the court. And it was a couple of those players that combined in remarkable fashion to get Kansas to overtime -- and thus the chance to escape with a 75-68 victory.
Memphis had allowed a nine-point lead with 2:12 remaining to fritter down to 63-60 with 10 seconds left. The Tigers did this when their two superstars, Derrick Rose (1-for-2) and Chris Douglas-Roberts (0-for-3, including the front of a 1-and-1) missed four of five free throws in the final 75 seconds.
"All along people have been talking about how bad a free-throw shooting team they are," Kansas hero Mario Chalmers said. "Coach [Bill] Self told us to foul a couple of their worst shooters. We got lucky. Chris missed his free throws. Derrick Rose missed a free throw."
The Jayhawks got lucky, because Rose and Douglas-Roberts were the shooters who had gone 20-for-23 at the line in the Tigers' very impressive semifinal victory over UCLA.