+
KANSAN.COM
CHAMPIONSHIPS BY THE DOZEN
B5
STARTING FIVE
USSELL ROBINSON
senior guard
Mario Chalmers did more of the ball-handling in this season, though Robinson was still a solid contributor with 7.3 points and 4.1 assists per game. He started in every game in his final season with Kansas.
MARIO CHALMERS Junior guard
Chalmers came up big in the tournament. Of course, he had "the shot" to push Kansas to overtime against Memphis, but over the tournament he averaged almost 15 points and three assists per game. He was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player for his performance, and his jersey was retired by Kansas.
+
BRANDON RUSH junior guard
Junior guard After he declared, then undeclared for the NBA Draft after 2007, Rush continued his dominant scoring averaging a team-high 13.3 points per game. But he was crucial through the tournamen as well, averaging nearly 16 points in those six games.
DARNELL JACKSON Senior forward After mostly sitting on the bench for three years, Jackson replaced Julian Wright after he left for the NBA, and contributed heavily all year for Kansas, averaging 11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds - a team high - per game.
DARNELL JACKSON
DARRELL ARTHUR
DARRELL ARTHUR
By the end of Arthur's sophomore season, the 6-foot-9 forward had replaced Sasha Kaun as the starter down low. And that proved to be a crucial change for Bill Self, as Arthur scored team-high 20 points and pulled down 10 boards in the NCAA Championship game against Memphis.
Jeff Jacobsen/KU Athletics
NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
KANSAS75
APRIL 7, 2008
MEMPHIS 68 (OT)
Walkin' On Memphis: KU wins in OT
MARK DENT originally published in 2008
SAN ANTONIO Mario Chalmers can dance now,now that his name has been permanently etched into the Kansas basketball history books.
He moved his hips to "Celebration" and slapped hands all around with his teammates in the confetti-filled jubilation of their national championship.
Chalmers' celebratory dance moves seemed so natural, just like the shot he made about 30 minutes earlier that sent the game to overtime. The play started with Sherron Collins. He had 10
That's right - national championship. Kansas (37-3) beat Memphis (38-2) 75-68 in overtime on Monday night at the Alamodome, winning its first title since 1988 and third in program history after coming back from a late nine-point deficit.
"God, we competed hard," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "It's one thing to win. It's another thing to win the way these guys did."
seconds to make sure Kansas extended the game and kept its dream season alive. He dribbled to the right wing behind the three-point line and nearly lost the ball.
Then, Chalmers separated from his man for just long enough. Collins found him. Trailing 63-60, Chalmers shot a three near the top of the key. Overtime.
Brandon Rush started out with a layup. Chalmers and Darrell Arthur combined for an alley-oop. When Collins made two free throws to put Kansas up 75-68, the game was finished. Chalmers' shot had sparked all of it.
The extra period was all Kansas.
A happy ending seemed implausible late in the second half. Memphis' Derrick Rose nearly killed Kansas. With Memphis down 45-42 midway in the second half, Rose scored 12 straight points for Memphis. He couldn't miss if he tried. Really. Rose fired a long off-balance
"I just knew we had the game after that," Arthur said.
jumper at the end of the shot clock and banked it in. The basket gave Memphis a 56-49 lead with 4:10 left.
The Tigers stretched that lead to 60-51, and it looked like Memphis would cut down the nets.
"A lot of guys thought the game was over," Darnell Jackson said, "but we just kept saying believe."
Self said those exact words to his team. Chalmers used Self's message and the memories from last season's comeback victories against Texas to motivate him.
Arthur took the inspirational words to heart as well. It was no surprise to see Chalmers take over in the clutch. Arthur was more of an unexpected hero.
Kansas has known all season it plays superior ball when Arthur is active. Problem was, that didn't happen too often.
In the tournament, Arthur's inconsistency got even worse. The one they call Shady reverted to his mind-bogglingly inconsistent ways throughout the postseason, disappearing in every game.
Monday night he was a changed man. Arthur scored two big baskets toward the end of regulation and got another one in overtime. He finished with 20 points. Arthur had played his best game in the biggest game of his life.
It's something he'll never forget, something all the Jayhawks will never forget. They battled through adversity after two losses in three games in late February and didn't lose the rest of the way.
Now, they're champions. They'll go down as one of the best teams in Kansas history. It's something Russell Robinson has hoped for since the season started.
After all the dancing, high-fiving and screaming stopped, Robinson sat in the back of a golf cart with his head in his arms and a net around his neck, thinking about the accomplishment.
"You couldn't really have written it any better," Robinson said. "No way you could've written it better."
SEASON AT A GLANCE
Kansas won its first NCAA Championship since 1988 with a care team that had been together for three years in Robinson, Chalmers and Rush, Kansas split the Big 12 regular season title with Texas, but won the Big 12 tournament title over the Longhorns at the Spring Center, 8474. Kansa then topped Stephen Curry's No. 23 Davidson and No. 1 North Carolina to get to the National Championship. There, Kansas scored 12 points in the final two minutes of regulation, going perfect from the field, including the three-point shot from Mario Chalmers now nicknamed
— now nicknamed "Mario's Miracle" — to tie it at 63. Kansas ran away with the game in overtime to win, 75-68.
BY THE NUMBERS
BY THE NUMBERS 1 — Kansas' victory gave the Big 12 its first and what is still its only men's basketball championship team.
2 Memphis was favored by two points going into the National Championship game. Also, Kansas is one of only two schools to win a BCS Bowl game and a men's basketball national championship in the same school year.
37 — The team's 37 wins are the most in a single season in Kansas basketball history.
NEWS
On May 15, California's Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitution al right to marry, four to three. On Nov.4, Democratic senator from Illinois Barack Obama won the presidential election over Senator John McCain.
The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots, 17-14, in Super Bowl 42.
...from one Lawrence tradition to another...
+