Kansas is the 2008 NCAA Championship.
Kansas guard Mario Chalmers was the hero of Monday night’s national title victory against Memphis in overtime at the Alamodome in San Antonio. His 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation put the game in overtime, and gave Kansas the extra time to make the most memorable comeback victories in NCAA tournament history.
Although Chalmers will go down in history, the most memorable overall performance came from Rose, the Memphis freshman, who completely took over the game in the second half, scoring 14 of his team’s 16 points during one stretch to lift the Tigers to a 60-51 lead with 2:12 left.
However, Kansas used the strategy any smart opponent of Memphis’ would - fouling the heck out of one of the country’s worst free-throw-shooting teams - and when Rose and Douglas-Roberts made only one of five over the last 1:12, it left the door open for KU. Hustling the ball down the court with 10.8 seconds left, no timeouts and trailing by three, Sherron Collins handed off to Chalmers at the top of the 3-point line, and Chalmers took the shot. It hit nothing but net and tied the score at 63. Overtime began with Sherron Collins stealing the ball and pitching ahead to Brandon Rush for a lay-in. Darrell Arthur slammed a lob from Chalmers and Darnell Jackson hit a bucket, and Memphis was never able to catch up.
The title is Kansas’ third NCAA Championship and fifth overall all-time championship. And Chalmers was named Final Four MVP.