Memphis chokes away National Championship

[X Factor]

Memphis was up 9 with 2 minutes left and coughed up the lead. Kansas ties it with a 3 with 2.1 seconds left to send it into overtime.

Memphis missed 4 out 5 free throws in the last minute of regulation.

Kansas wins it's 3rd National Championship.

[muskiemuskie]

was Coach Cal serious after the game when he said the NCAA should get rid of the review?

obviously it changed the game but I dont think he would say that if he was on the other side

[dfcapp]

It's one thing if the review was incorrect, but he took off with one foot in front of the 3 point line. It is what it is.

Also, then Coach Cal should be bent that they didn't call a T on Douglas-Roberts when he spiked the ball on the floor after missing two critical free throws.

[XU2000]

The end of that game - and Memphis deciding not to foul while up three and instead letting Chalmers bury one to send it to OT - was eerily similar to XU-OSU last year. I can't remember if there was any debate here last year about whether Miller should have instructed his team to foul if Cage missed one of two FT's. Does anyone remember such a debate? Does anyone remember what Miller said if/when asked about the foul situation?

[bleedXblue]

very little surprise the Memphis would miss critical free throws....it was just a matter of time before it cost them a big game.....

[BrianXavier]

The end of that game - and Memphis deciding not to foul while up three and instead letting Chalmers bury one to send it to OT - was eerily similar to XU-OSU last year.

I was thinking the same thing. I guess Memphis tried to foul according to an ex-coach/commentator Fran on ESPN this morning. I don't remember seeing it, but he said they tried to foul (I guess not hard enough). He blamed coach Cal for not calling a timeout after the free throw attempts by Rose to instruct his players what to do (although it sounds like the players knew to foul, but didn't foul hard enough)

Tough breaks for Memphis - so much has to go wrong to blow a lead like that. Unfortunately for them it did. I was rooting for them, as seeing them win gives me more hope for X [being outside the 'big six' conference and able to win a national championship - which I don't think has happened since UNLV (?)]

[gym from delhi]

Count me as one of those who could never root for a Calipari, Huggins, or O"Neill-coached team. People like Calipari put UMass on probation, then go to the pros (I hesitate to call that "coaching'), then resurface at a place like Memphis with its stellar 40% graduation rate. X may never get to a Final Four, but I'm proud of the way they do things.

[MuskieCinci]

The end of last night's game was extremely similar to the OSU game last year. Memphis choked it away ever more then we did by missing 3 of 4 free throws instead of 1 of 2 though. Then Chalmers nailing that three at the end of regulation, with all the momentum in overtime being transferred to the team that made the three to tie it at the end of regulation. There was even an iffy technical that could have been called, albeit in a reversal role of our game, but still eerie none the less.