I think this picture sums up Kansas’ win on Monday night quite nicely.  A miracle.  Coming from someone who hates KU so deeply and whose stomach is so upset right now……actually there is no description of how I feel at the moment.  It is almost inhuman.  Maybe this will help paint a picture:  If KU was to play the devil and his merry band of minions, I would be cheering gleefully for the Prince of Darkness.  Or:  If KU was playing the Russians I would be screaming “I must break you” in my best Russian accent.  (Incidentally, KU is both Lucifer and the Russians combined.)  However; neither analogy can best describe my hatred for KU nor how I feel at this moment some two days after it happened.

I guess the best way to describe it–for lack of a better way–is:  Screw KU.  Screw them, the school, their criminal AD, their retarded fan base and most of all Bill Self and that dead animal on his oval grape.  Seriously Bill, with that certain raise you will be getting, I suggest the hair club for men or a nice set of shears. 

Yes, Kansas hit the miracle shot to put them into overtime where they eventually won.  An obvious argument would be to say Memphis could have stepped up in OT and won the game themselves (see St. Louis fan/players/manager/front office/city/etc and the 1985 World Series).  But the game really came down in regulation where Memphis couldn’t hit free throws that would have so iced this game, Coach Cal wouldn’t use his timeouts and because they didn’t foul prior to the miracle shot.

The Tigers should not have reached that point in the first place.  They could have put themselves in a position before that fateful final minute where it wouldn’t have mattered how many free throws they missed.  Memphis seemed to settle into a lazy offense content to work the ball around the perimeter before settling on junk NBA-style isolation plays.  When KU went into a garbage Box-and-One defense, the Tigers looked confused, never once attempting a pass into the soft middle.  Of course Coach Cal could have called a timeout but was hoping to trade them in at the gift shop for some fancy second place trophy.  Good thing there was one left.

As much of a mistake for Coach Cal to sit on his timeouts, it was absolutely unforgivable to sit on them in the last minute of a championship game where his team was clearly dazed and confused.  Especially to calm down Rose and Douglas-Roberts after their choke job at the free throw line.  However, why in the name of all that is holy, did he not call a timeout to tell his team to foul KU in the final seven seconds when his team was up three??  This to me is mind boggling.  In fact, my bruised knuckles need an answer to this question—nay—demand an answer.

How many more times can a team can give up a game-tying 3-pointer with less than seven seconds to play before it becomes a mandatory strategy for everyone to foul?  It’s completely inane. One theory is every NBA and college coach knows it’s completely inane, but they’re under orders from David Stern and the NCAA higher-ups not to foul in those situations so there will be more exciting finishes.  But with the amount of money, prestige, recognition, fame, oh….and the pure fact of wanting to win, this theory is some what hogwash.  Gobbletygook if you will.

Another theory is Memphis was the only team that shouldn’t have fouled in that situation because it would have stopped the game, and the Tigers would have had to hit free throws on the other end.  This doesn’t hold water for me either.  Let’s say they foul Mario the Miracle Maker with six seconds left before he launches the 3, and he makes both. The Tigers inbound the ball and Kansas fouls them with something like 4.9 (or 5 seconds, but you get where I am going) seconds left on the clock.  Even if they only make one of two, Kansas still has to go the length of the floor and get off a good shot in less than five seconds.  Would you rather roll the dice with that scenario — as well as the possibility that either Chalmers missed one of his free throws or Memphis made both — or would you rather not foul and allow a game-tying 3-pointer?  If you said foul before they shoot the 3, go to the head of the class.

Despite Self’s worn out rug, I still can’t hate him.  He is a great coach—not good—great.  And the best part is he proved thousands and thousands of hypocritical KU fans who wanted him fired just two short seasons ago, wrong.  Some even wanted him gone last season.  Of course KU fan will tell you “not me, I always had faith in him and thought he could win.”  But they are lying.  They are so lying.  And with the threat of T. Boone Pickens looming, we will see if Coach Self remembers two seasons ago as well.

It’s going to be interesting to see if the Memphis-Kansas game is eventually remembered as a traumatic loss or a fantastic comeback victory.  My guess is that, as time passes, we’ll end up remembering the Kansas comeback and Mario’s miracle 3-pointer.  And with that, all those years of failures by Walters, Chenowiths, Pierces, LaFrentzes, Vaughns, Collisons, Hinriches, Coach Roy, losses to Bucknell, Bradley, Rhode Island were wiped away.  At least for another 20 years.