2008 NCAA Championship: Kansas vs. Memphis

Final score: Kansas 75 Memphis 68

The long road to a championship is over. What started at 65 teams was left as a face off of two number 1 seeds. Just one is crowned champion: Kansas.

Kansas’ road to the championship went like this: Portland St, UNLV, Villanova, Davidson and North Carolina. After surviving tournament cinderella Davidson and overpowering a true test in North Carolina, Kansas proved they were ready for the power and the speed of Memphis.

Kansas faced a big test, and one thing was clear: no Big 12 team had ever won a National Championship. They were up against a Memphis team who proved they were ready for a championship after defeating two of the best teams in the tournament: Texas and UCLA.

Not only was it a battle of two great teams, but two great coaches. John Calipari and Bill Self are only two of three coaches in NCAA Division I history to coach two different schools to a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Both teams are very similar in that they have faced paced offenses that score about 80 points a game, while only giving up about 60.

Dorsey, who didn’t score at all in the previous game against UCLA, started things off with the game’s first basket.

Kansas faced its largest point deficit of the tournament when Memphis took an early 9 to 3 lead, but responded nicely with a 15-4 run of their own.

The second half was very face paced with both teams going back and forth, keeping the game close. Kansas experienced a minor scoring drought, which allowed Derrick Rose and the Memphis Tigers to pull ahead slightly.

Derrick Rose, who has shined throughout the tournament, had not scored fewer than 17 points in any NCAA Tournament game, although only averaging 13.9 points during the regular season. The Kansas defense had him held to only 3 points in the first half.

Kansas had a big game inside, not only on scoring, but rebounding as well. It was enough for Bill Self and company in his first appearance in a National Championship.

One thing in question was Memphis’ free throw shooting, as they are shooting just 61.3 percent for the season. This wasn’t an issue when they faced UCLA, where they made 20 of 23 for a nice 87% average. It didn’t prove to be much of an issue against Kansas until a front end of a 1-and-1 was missed toward the end of the game. It was the missed free throws that led to overtime.

Kansas played some great D against North Carolina and was pretty solid against Memphis. All eyes were on Brandon Rush, the Junior small forward who led a balanced attack against the Tigers. Look for Kansas Coach Bill Self to get a huge contract after this game.