84-66.

by rockchalk on Apr 6, 2008 11:52 AM CDT in Kansas Jayhawk Basketball

I feel really guilty right now.

You see, my team, the Kansas Jayhawks, just won a Final Four game by 18 points.

But after thoroughly enjoying every second of the first fifteen minutes, the rest of the game wasn't a whole lotta fun. As the Tar Heels slowly chipped away at our 28 point advantage, I watched the game merely hoping it would end, attempting to will the seconds off the clock faster. And so, when they finally caught up enough to make it a 54-50 game (that would be a 38-14 run for the Heels), I was freaking out, along with the vast majority of the Kansas fan base. Of course, from that point forwards we outplayed the Heels enough to win by a comfortable 18 points.

Which leads me to say without a moment of hesitation: That was the least-fun 18 point win in the history of the Final Four. 15 consecutive brain-dead minutes will do that, but the good obviously outweighed the bad.

And so, before we get into the Memphis State discussion (after seeing Ben Howland and Bobby Knight call them Memphis State, I couldn't help myself), enjoy the win some more. We are in the National Championship game, forty minutes away from being the kings of the college basketball universe. The nearly unanimous pick this week of UNC-UCLA has been blown up, both of the proverbial 'favorites' (Memphis was the Vegas favorite, but not the MSM favorite by a longshot) proving that they are worse than Kansas and Memphis State, respectively.

Bring on the Tigers...

ROCK CHALK!

Editor's Note: If you want to know the kind of offense Memphis runs and all that, this article is an absolute must-read. It was in SI a month-or-so ago, and while it doesn't exclusively focus on the Memphis Tigers offense, that is the core subject of the article. In order for us to stop it, we will need outstanding defensive performances from multiple people, namely the two guards that are forced to guard Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts, which I would guess is Mario and Brandon, respectively, right now. I wonder if we still switch, in the rare occasions that the Tigers actually use a ball-screen, or just stick to your man. That is a crucial decision in Monday's game, and a decision we will talk about more in-depth a little later on before game time.

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Memphis

The key to stopping them will be keeping your man in front of you at all costs. Rose is so good that he will make you pay for any help defensively. Memphis will also have a big height advantage at at least one of the guard spots- while Robinson is the same height as Rose, and Rush is within an inch on CDR, Antonio Anderson is 6-6, a significant difference over Chalmers. When Rush goes out of the game, this difference will be even more pronounced.

I noticed during the UCLA game that Calipari has brought some of the lessons he learned from the NBA to his team- whenever Collison tried to guard Rose, they would often post him up down low to take advantage of his size and strength advantage.

Another player I fear is Taggert- an athletic guy that's 6'10 and was hitting 3s against UCLA. He could cause a lot of problems for us.

To beat Memphis, we are going to have to be hot from the outside, and hope they cool off a bit from their recent string of performances. We will need Cole to prove last game wasn't an aberration but a true coming out party, and Shady is going to have to go into "Beast Mode." If we play the way we did the first 15 minutes against UNC, we will win. Anything less than that, however, and it will be extremely difficult to beat the Memphi$ "Dream Team."

by KennyGregoryRockThaCradle on Apr 6, 2008 1:02 PM CDT reply actions

Learn to enjoy the moment

One things I learned over the years is to enjoy the moments while the team is ahead. During the game, the outcome is uncertain. But at any given moment, the Hawks may be ahead. If so, don't forget to enjoy that moment. With this philosophy in mind, that first half was awesome!!

I also remind myself that each game is a distinct event. There may or may not be any carry-over from the past games. The Hawks were tight during the Davidson game, weren't they? But that didn't prevent them from a fabulous first half (and last ten minutes) against UNC.

So don't spoil this for yourself.

Satchel Topeka

by Satchel Topeka on Apr 6, 2008 5:10 PM CDT reply actions

good call.

monday night should be different, or at least i hope so.

i highly doubt that we will jump out to another 40-12 lead, and that lead almost made me more nervous.

still, i am going to try and enjoy every second of the game on monday...

by rockchalk on Apr 7, 2008 12:27 AM CDT up reply actions

I Agree...

Win or lose on Monday, we should be proud of this team and what they've accomplished. We are playing in the last game of the year, and that is worthy of respect.

Nevertheless, here's hoping the birds feast on the kitties.

by Rhodri2112 on Apr 6, 2008 9:38 PM CDT reply actions

Oh Definitely

If you check out the open game thread, I think you'll see just how much I enjoyed the win over UNC- that is a feeling that will last for years and years, no matter what happens Monday night.

But I'm also a huge hoops junkie, so to me, analyzing a huge game between two powerhouses with everything on the line is enjoyable in itself. If my review came off a bit pessimistic, that is entirely out of my respect for what Memphis has accomplished this year. 38-1 speaks for itself.

On the other hand, what we've accomplished is pretty damned impressive on its own. We will definitely have some advantages in this game, and if we can exploit them, we can bring home our third championship, finishing off what would have to be the greatest year in major college sports history.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

by KennyGregoryRockThaCradle on Apr 6, 2008 10:09 PM CDT reply actions

whoops

Right after I posted this, I conveniently remembered that Florida won both NCs just a couple of years ago. Not sure what their combined record was for that season, though, and we all know that the football team would have destroyed LSU in New Orleans if given the shot. ;)

by KennyGregoryRockThaCradle on Apr 6, 2008 10:12 PM CDT up reply actions