THE CHALM BEFORE THE STORM: Comeback-culminating Chalmers chuck chases Calipari’s chaotic chokers to O.T., where Kansas tornadoes the Tigers and Chalmer heads prevail

IllogiCalipari:  Memphis Coach, out-Coached by Self, blames self for 75-68 National Championship collapse

You know the DVD that chronicles the 2008 Memphis Tigers’ Magical Season, complete with Kevin Love getting posterized in the Final Four?  Cancel it.

Bruin fans can relax now — The worst moment of Kevin Love’s UCLA career, and one of the worst games of Darren Collison’s, will NOT be watched over and over again by millions of consumers.  Thanks to Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks, the only successful “Road to the Title” video this year will be Bruin-free.  Kansas came back from NINE down with 2:12 left in regulation, to stun John Calipari and Memphis, and pulled away in Overtime, 75-68.

This is Kansas’ 1st Title in 20 years, since Danny Manning led the Jayhawks to the Banner in ’88, but like Manning’s career with the Clippers, it wasn’t easy.

It was a game of runs, with Kansas dominating the paint, but unable to make outside shots, thus causing a see-saw effect.  Kansas scored the last 5 points of the First Half to take a 5-point lead into the locker room, but Memphis came right back and forged ahead in the Second Half.  When Kansas went into a severe scoring drought down the stretch, it looked like Memphis was going to snatch their first Title in School History, but Calipari’s kids lost their composure.    

For weeks, Calipari has been claiming that his team’s poor Free Throw shooting would NOT be a factor in the Tournament.  Well, the Tigers’ Stars missed FOUR OUT OF FIVE Free Throws in the final moments, allowing the Jayhawks one final chance.  With 10 seconds left, down by three, Kansas rushed the ball up and Calipari’s team – by his instruction – TRIED to foul the Kansas dribbler.  That would have sent Kansas to the line for two Free Throws, and made it so Kansas would have needed a miracle to tie or win.  But the foul wasn’t hard enough, the dribbler got the ball to Mario Chalmers, and Memphis’ Freshman sensation Derrick Rose’s hand in Mario’s face wasn’t enough to stop Chalmers from swishing the game-tying shot.

That was definitely the shot of the game, already being called the biggest shot in Kansas History, even though it was FAR from a Walk-off.  But Kansas took that overwhelming momentum, and rolled it right into Overtime.  It didn’t hurt that Memphis Big Man Joey Dorsey had already fouled out either, as Kansas took advantage by simply overpowering the Tigers underneath during the extra period. 

The Jayhawks won the O.T, 12-5, but a Calipari mistake was crucially involved.  With the Tigers trailing by 3 with 45 seconds left in O.T., Memphis purposely committed a foul.  It was a ONE-possession game, but they sent Chalmers – a 73% FT shooter – to the line for a 1 and 1.  Of course, cool Chalmers made them both, and the desperate Tigers never scored again.  Rose, who had 18 in regulation, failed to score in Overtime, and Chris Douglas-Roberts, who scored 22, also missed several opportunities to save the season in O.T.  And Calipari is taking the blame for that.  Calipari says that he got so caught up in trying to win the game, that he didn’t substitute enough.  His Stars got tired out, Dorsey fouled out, and Rose even cramped up right at the end of Regulation.  Calipari should KNOW his personnel – and their limitations – better than that… but at least he has the stones to admit that he screwed up.

So even though Bill Self’s best player Brandon Rush scored only 12 Points in a performance that was not one of his best, the Jayhawks were still able to keep the Tigers in check.  Kansas matched up much better with those long Tiger Guards than UCLA did, and when CDR and Rose started to be effective, Self changed up Defenses, going to a Zone to slow down the penetration.  It worked, and it made a lot of people probably wonder why Ben Howland didn’t resort to the same strategy.

UCLA got to where they are now – near the very top of the Nation’s Elite Programs – by playing a patented Man-to-Man Defense, and would not have been able to just shift gears into a new (to them) and untested system, and immediately make it work against a team like Memphis.  It would have also killed UCLA on the Tigers’ Offensive glass. 

UCLA does NOT need to re-think anything.  Not to evoke Bush parallels, but Howland just needs to “stay the course,” keep the trend going of upgraded recruiting, and keep stressing tough Defense First, and the Banners will be inevitable.  In fact, if Memphis misses their Free Throws, and goes cold while settling for lousy outside shots on SATURDAY like they did on Monday, the Bruins might have beaten them, and then dusted Kansas just like they did last year.  The gap between Memphis and UCLA is not as big as it might have looked on Saturday, as the Bruins – especially Collison – did not play up to their potential.  The point is:  Don’t worry about Ben Howland or UCLA, just because this year’s Bruin-beaters got beat.

Below are 4 more photos from UCLA’s thrashing of Kansas in San Jose last year, in “honor” of the Jayhawks keeping the Bruin loss to Memphis out of all the commemorative videos about to be sold Nationwide, and promo’ed on Sports Illustrated TV commercials every 5 minutes for the next six months.