Memphis' Title Hopes Die on Foul Line
By BEN WALKER,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-16 15:27:40
SAN ANTONIO (April 7) - Clang. Bonk. Boing.
That was the awful sound of Memphis letting the NCAA championship game rattle away at the foul line Monday night.
Kansas' Comeback
Takes NCAA Title
NCAA Title Game: Kansas 75, Memphis 68
Twenty years after Danny and the Miracles claimed Kansas' second championship, the Jayhawks get another miracle as they claim a third NCAA title with a dramatic comeback victory.
Too bad for the Tigers, they lived up to their reputation at the end - a wonderful team that simply couldn't make free throws.
"It came back and bit us. We missed them. We missed them at a crucial time," All-American Chris Douglas-Roberts said. "I guess you can boil it down to the free throws."
Given a chance to put away Kansas, stars Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose hit just 1-of-5 foul shots in the final 1:12 of regulation. By the time Douglas-Roberts regained his touch in overtime, it was too late to prevent a 75-68 loss.
"Let's put it this way: Did we have the guys at the line that we wanted at the line? Yeah," coach John Calipari said. "They don't make every one. They're not machines, these kids. They're just not.
"And under that glare of that significance - you know, I'm still kind of numb, to be honest with you," he said. "It will probably hit me like a ton of bricks tomorrow, that we had it in our grasp."
In their hands on the foul line, more accurately.
"When we was on the line, we was trying to make them," Rose said. "But I guess we didn't do it."
All season long, as Rose and Douglas-Roberts dazzled with an assortment of trick shots, doubters said the Tigers' inability to make a simple, 15-foot shot while standing still would cost them. Memphis made barely 59 percent in the regular season, third-worst in Division I.
Calipari always laughed at that notion, saying the Tigers would nail them when it counted. Sometimes he got downright mad, as if anyone who would suggest such a thing didn't know much about basketball.
Asked again Sunday, Calipari brushed it aside.
"We spend no time thinking about free-throw shooting," he said.
During the first five games of the NCAA tournament, Calipari had zero worries. His team improved to a 70 percent clip - in fact, Rose and Douglas-Roberts combined to hit 20 of 23 in the semifinal romp over UCLA.
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self poses with students in Boys Town, Neb., Wednesday, May 7, 2008. Self, who visited Boys Town before appearing at an Omaha sports banquet in the evening, said he'll have no idea what the roster for the defending NCAA champions will look like until after June's NBA draft. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
AP
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, center, jokes during a visit to Boys Town, Neb., Wednesday, May 7, 2008, as he stands near Boys Town Executive Director Steve Boes, left. said he'll have no idea what the roster for the defending NCAA champions will look like until after June's NBA draft. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
AP
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, left, takes questions from students during a visit to Boys Town, Neb., Wednesday, May 7, 2008. Self, who was in Omaha for a sports banquet, said he'll have no idea what the roster for the defending NCAA championship team will look like until after June's NBA draft. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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** FILE ** In this Jan. 9, 2008 file photo, LSU's Garrett Temple (14) knocks the ball away from Mississippi State's Ben Hansbrough, right, and Temple eventually ends up with the ball during the first half of a college basketball game in Baton Rouge, La. Hansbrough, who helped Mississippi State advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament last month, is transferring to Notre Dame. (AP Photo/Bill Feig, File)
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Memphis head coach John Calipari smiles as he answers a question at a news conference at the college basketball Final Four in this April 6, 2008 file photo, in San Antonio. Calipari has signed a contract extension through the 2012-13 season that includes an annual raise of $500,000. Calipari will make $2.35 million per year and will receive a $5 million bonus if he stays through the end of the deal, athletic director R.C. Johnson announced Saturday, April 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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** FILE ** This March 27, 2008 file photo shows Texas guard D.J. Augustin (14) smiling during a news conference at the NCAA South Regional basketball tournament in Houston. All-American point guard D.J. Augustin says he is leaving Texas after two seasons to turn pro. He said Wednesday April 23, 2008 that he has long dreamed of playing in the NBA and that he is "ready to start living this dream." (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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** FILE ** In this March 22, 2008 file photo, Mississippi State guard Jamont Gordon responds to a question during a news conference at the NCAA men's basketball tournament South Regional in North Little Rock, Ark. Gordon has decided to turn pro but won't hire an agent before the NBA draft. Gordon told The Associated Press he planned to file the paperwork. In a phone interview Tuesday afternoon April 22, 2008, Gordon said he intends to go through with the draft if he remains injury free. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
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** FILE ** In this March 23, 2008 file photo, Mississippi State guard Jamont Gordon (44) takes a shot as Memphis guard Antonio Anderson (5) defends in the first half of an NCAA men's basketball second-round South Regional game in North Little Rock, Ark. Gordon has decided to turn pro but won't hire an agent before the NBA draft. Gordon told The Associated Press he planned to file the paperwork. In a phone interview Tuesday afternoon April 22, 2008, Gordon said he intends to go through with the draft if he remains injury free. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
AP
** FILE ** This March 19, 2006 file photo shows Bucknell basketball coach Pat Flannery pleading with an official during the first half of their NCAA tournament second-round basketball game against Memphis in Dallas. Flannery is retiring after 14 years on the bench at his alma mater. A person at the university told The Associated Press of Flannery's retirement Friday morning, April 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam, File)
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** FILE ** Memphis coach John Calipari talks with Memphis freshman guard Derrick Rose (23) in the first half of the NCAA South Regional basketball final in Houston in this March 30, 2008 file photo, in Houston. Rose announced on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 he was jumping to the NBA, the same day Calipari agreed in principle to a contract extension with the school. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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But then, with the championship trophy in sight, it all turned foul for Memphis as Kansas' hack-a-Tiger strategy worked. Against Douglas-Roberts and Rose, both 71 percent foul shooters this season.
"Being a leader of this team, I feel I let them down," Douglas-Roberts said. "I told them that I take the blame, I take the blame for this one."
Ahead 62-58 with a minute-plus left, Douglas-Roberts clanked the first shot of a one-and-one. That drew a wince or two on the Memphis bench.
Douglas-Roberts got another try with 16 seconds left, and the All-American guard missed twice. A few of his teammates grimaced, a couple clenched their fists, but no one panicked because Memphis still led 62-60.
"I really can't explain why," Douglas-Roberts said. "I mean, I don't know. I mean, when you play basketball, you can't describe things like that. You really can't. I missed them."
Rose, the sensational freshman most likely headed to the NBA, could've put it away when he went to the line with 10 seconds left and a two-point lead. Hit twice, and it's probably over.
Instead, after playing so poised during a second-half rally, he suddenly looked like a true freshman when his first shot rattled in and out. This time, some Tigers closed their eyes, hardly believing what was happening.
Rose made the next one for a 63-60 edge, but that gave Kansas enough room so that Mario Chalmers' wild 3-pointer just before the buzzer sent it to overtime.
Douglas-Roberts later made two free throws, little consolation by then. The Jayhawks were on their way, the Tigers (38-2) were doomed.
"All along, people have been talking about how bad a free-throw shooting team they are," Chalmers said. "Coach (Bill) Self told us to foul a couple of their worst shooters. We got lucky. Chris missed two free throws. Derrick Rose missed one free throw. That was a big thing for us. We just took that and ran with it."
AOL Sports'
All-Tourney Team
First Team: Mario Chalmers, Kansas
It's not just for excellent timing, though his clutch shot-of-the-tournament 3-pointer will live on as a March Madness highlight. But Chalmers locked down defensively and hit double digits in every game.
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