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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9,2008
Perfect end to a season of trials
Personal tragedies, personal triumphs prepared Jayhawks for championship
BY MIKE FINGER
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
What was Sherron Collins thinking? Didn't he realize there were only 10.8, now 9.8, now 8.8 seconds left in regulation? Couldn't he see his team was down by three points, and the basket was still almost 90 feet away? And if he noticed all of this, why on earth was he nochna-
lantly bouncing the ball and strolling the first two steps up the court like he didn't have a care in the world?
As it turned out,it was because to Collins and the Kansas Javahawks,this
The record will show that in the best NCAA title game in more than a decade, Memphis and Kansas played an overtime period. But that was a mere formality, because by the time the final horn sounded in regulation, the Tigers had no chance. They'd missed their oppor-
the ball to Mario Chalmers for the high-arcing, holy-cow-I-think thats-really-going-in, game-tying 3-pointer, it was as if everyone else figured out what the Jayhawks had known all along.
"Deep down, I felt my mind was telling me to leave. But my heart was telling me to stay."
This championship always was theirs to win.
was nothing. Nothing when compared to having nearly pulled off the biggest choke in Final Four history two nights earlier. Nothing compared to having just scored nine points in 55 seconds to save their season. Nothing when compared to having endured more tragedies than the Greeks.
DARNELL JACKSON Senior forward
So when Collins finally sped up, and when he dodged a defender trying to foul him, then passed
tunity where every one thought they would — at the free-throw line — and then watched the last of their one-time nine-point edge evaporate on Chalmers' 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left
"I knew we had the game after that," Kansas forward Darrell Arthur said.
Everyone did. Among them were the Jayhawks' family members leaping for joy in the Alamodome grandstands across the court from the Memphis bench. These were the people who had been with the new national champions in darker times. When Collins' infant son died a few days after his birth. When Kansas forward Sasha Kaun's
father was killed, allegedly murdered, in Russia. When Jayhawks guard Rodrick Stewart's brother was shot to death in his car. And when Darnell Jackson had "gone through more than any person his age should've had to go through."
Jackson, whose father was shot and killed by police, whose uncle was beaten to death, whose friend was killed in gang violence, whose grandmother died as a result of a car wreck, came close to not being in the Alamodome on Monday. At one point, he left school with the intention of never going back, but
it turned out "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk" had its hooks in him.
"Deep down, I felt my mind was telling me to leave," Jackson said. "But my heart was telling me to stay."
Different
pionship-game overtime since 1997 and set up Kansas' first national title since Danny Manning and his Miracles won theirs 20 years ago.
"I thought it was going to go in when it left my hand. It felt pretty good when I released it."
"I thought it was going to go in when it left my hand," Chalmers
With Memphis ahead 63-60 and 10.8 seconds showing on the clock, Collins took the inbounds pass and made his casual first few steps. Then he suddenly shifted into high gear, charging into the frontcourt and finding Chalmers, who only had time for one quick glance at the rim before he launched the ball high into the Alamodome air.
body parts kept other players in Kansas' uniforms. Brandon Rush, for instance, was unable to enter the NBA draft last spring because of his knee, which he injured during an offseason pickup game. Forced to return to college for his junior year, there he was Monday night, scoring the first basket of overtime to give Kansas a lead it never relinquished.
MARIO CHALMERS Junior guard
But that was after the biggest dramatics, when Collins and Chalmers had teamed to force the first cham-
said. "It felt pretty good when I released it."
The shot left the Tigers s t u n n e d — "I'm still kinda numb," Memphis coach John Calipari said a half-hour later — and the lavhawks energized. And when the game was finally over, Jackson leapt over the press table, waded into the crowd and began hugging people, tears flying everywhere.
One of the women he hugged, Arthur's mother Sandra, couldn't believe what shed just seen.
"Everything worked out for him in the end," she said.
Just like the Jayhawks knew it would.
WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Tennessee wins eighth NCAA championship Stanford Cardinals unable to stop Candace Parker, Lady Vols'in 64-48 loss
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA, Fla. — That injured left shoulder wasn't enough to stop Candace Parker from hoisting that championship trophy one last time.
Parker scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help Tennessee capture its eighth championship with a 64-48 victory over Stanford on Tuesday night. The Lady Vols also became the first repeat champs since Connecticut won three straight from 2002-04.
"It's been an emotional last three days, obviously, just rehabbing my shoulder," Parker said, "but it was all worth it to win an eighth national championship."
The Associated Press player of the year will leave the Lady Vols (36-2) with a year of eligibility remaining, but has accomplished one of her goals by winning multiple national titles.
"You know, it's funny because some players don't get one, and I'm fortunate enough to have two." Parker said with both hands raised and two fingers up on each. "It's that simple. It's that simple."
Parker also became the fourth player to win back-to-back Most
Outstanding Player of the Final Four honors. She joined Connecticut's Diana Taurasi (2003-04), Tennessee's Chamique Holdschlaw (1997-98), and Southern Cal's Cheryl Miller (1983-84).
Stanford's loss ended Candice Wiggins' amazing run through the NCAA tournament. She scored 14 points and finished with 151 over the six games — the fourth-best total in tournament history. Sheryl Swoopes holds the record with 177 points, when she led Texas Tech to the championship in 1993. Wiggins is the first player to have two 40-point games in the tournament.
Wiggins ended her stellar career by taking the Cardinal (35-4) further than they'd been since 1992, when the program won it all. Stanford hadn't reached the Final Four since 1997 or advanced to the championship game since the '92 team.
"I'm sad that it's over because of how much I love this program, this institution, this team, and my coaches teammates," Wiggins said, breaking into tears. "It's that amazing. This season, I could not ever have dreamed of this, so it's more than I could ever ask for."
She came in averaging 27.4 points
Tennessee's Candace Parker, left, and Angie Bjorklund celebrate after a Parker basket during the second half of the championship game at the Final Four in the NCAA women's basketball tournament Tuesday in Tampa, Fla.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
in the tournament and opened the game with a 3-pointer, but couldn't find an open look after that. The All-American finished 6-for-16 from the field and left to a standing ovation with just over a minute left in her college career.
ing in the semifinals when she went just 6-for-27 from the field, but gutted out the championship game, not letting her injured shoulder bother her. For the second straight game, the she wore a long-sleeve shirt under her uniform to try, as she said, to not focus on the injury.
Parker struggled with her shoot
While still clearly not 100 percent healthy, the expected No. 1 pick in Wednesday's WNBA draft didn't shoot nearly as many jumpers as Sunday night, instead taking the ball to the basket on an array of moves. She converted one steal in the second half into a layup that gave the Lady Vols' a 10-point advantage. She then followed it with a three-point play on a driving layup. The Cardinal, who had a season low for points, would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.
With the game in hand and a minute left, Parker went to the Tennessee bench for the final time, holding up four fingers on each hand to signify the eight titles the Lady Vols have won.
"No. 8, it's all about this team," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "I've been very blessed with this team, these people I have around me."
>> NHL
Experience may be key as Colorado takes on Minnesota
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Beaten up last April by the eventual NHL champions, the Minnesota Wild have some playoff experience to build on a year later.
A couple of their top offensive players, Marian Gaborik and Pierre-Marc Bouchard, were even around when they made that improbable run to the Western Conference finals in 2003.
But for all the seasoning the Wild might have nearly eight years after the franchise entered the league, they can't quite match the Colorado Avalanche in that category.
Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, 12 years after they won their first of two Stanley Cups together with the
Avs, are ready for another run — even if they're showing their age. Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk are still around, too, from the 2001 championship team. Ryan Smyth, once a star in
"Last year, I got a little bit of an experience and now I'm maybe not as nervous."
"We have to be patient. Their system, is based on patient."
Though the Wild have opened up their offense a bit over the years under famously disciplined coach Jacques Lemaire, their success is still predicated on sound defense and making opponents make mistakes. Gaborik scored a franchise-record 42 goals this season, but Lemaire's skaters will never be known as freestylers.
BRENT BURNS Colorado Avalanche
"We can't get too excited," Koivu said. "We have to handle that in the right way and play our kind of hockey. There's always a chance that you get overexcited and your thinking is not always there, but we have to avoid that and take it in a good way."
Simon hoisted the Stanley Cup with Colorado, actually, in 1996.
Edmonton and now a third-line wing on Colorado's potent attack, played for the Oilers in the 2006 Cup finals.
Minnesota has plenty of grizzled faces and salt-and-pepper beards, from new enforcer Chris Simon to slap-shot specialist Brian Rolston to defenseman Sean Hill.
loud for Wednesday's Game 1, so that has to be channeled properly.
Many of the most important players, though, are not that far removed from the draft that brought them
scorers and, seemingly, stronger potential to break open a game.
"They are playing well, and we've been playing pretty well down the stretch," Sakic said. "For some reason, our two teams both have fast teams and match up pretty well. The games, I'm assuming, are going to be just as tight as they've
Then on patience," Colorado enforcer lan Laperriere said.
Bothteams, interestingly, approach the game in much the same manner, though the Avalanche clearly have more of the big-name goal
"For some reason, our two teams both have fast teams and match up pretty well."
Xcel Energy Center is sure to be
JOE SAKIC
Colorado Avalanche
The Wild, however, must be able to handle this unfamiliar role, as the Northwest Division champs. No. 3 seed and home team for this first-round series. In 2003, the Avalanche were heavy favorites and held a 3-1 lead before Minnesota's surge started.
Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville downplayed the experience factor, insisting that Sakic even "gets the jitters" before postseason games begin.
"Last year, I got a little bit of an experience and now I'm maybe not as nervous," Burns said, "but it's still totally different from the rest of the year."
to the organization in a dressing room that remains a rather youthful place. Gaborik, Bouchard, defenseman Brent Burns and center Mikko Koivu are all first-round picks comprising the team's core.
Minnesota suffered a big blow on Monday when defenseman Nick Schultz, probably their best pure defender who successfully hounded
been in the regular season"
Forsberg, Sakic and the others in the 2003 playoffs, had an appendectomy that will certainly keep him out for the series — if not longer. Another blue-liner, Kurtis Foster, badly broke his leg in March, which leaves six healthy defenseman.
That's not a recommended formula, especially when against the skills of Forsberg, no matter how problematic his foot might be.
"When he's in the zone, he gets the puck and has control and is a calm customer." Lemaire said. "He doesn't panic. He goes well with that team because they have a lot of guys like that."
Petteri Nummelin, who played in only 27 games this season because of a groin problem and the depth chart, will take Schultz's spot.
"The guys, they'll play. They won't go home and cry," Lemaire said.
Baseball royalty
Boston Red Sox's Jacoby Ellsbury, center, waves to the crowd as he steps onto the red carpet during home opening ceremonies at Boston's Fenway Park, Tuesday. The Red Sox play the Detroit Tigers in the baseball game. The Red Sox received their World Series rings during the ceremonies.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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