I'm an OU guy; therefore, I'm a Big 12 guy. I knew OU would lose before the Sweet 16. I hate Texas; therefore, I was rooting for Kansas to begin the NCAA tournament. But after careful consideration...I'm pissed!
I have plenty of Kansas family and friends. They're generally genial people. I have no problem with them celebrating a national title that was handed to them. I repeat, HANDED to them.
But first, let's set up some parameters. Kansas has one strike against it going into this year: how they have treated Roy Williams. The man stuck around when Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison were just babies at Kansas and his alma mater, North Carolina, came calling. The trio gave it their best shot and lost to Syracuse in the title game in 2003. All three parted Kansas after that year. Williams helped turn the two seniors into lottery picks and took his dream job at the second-most tradition-rich basketball school in the country. UCLA is no. 1, sorry Kansas, you ain't that far up there. All the fans have done since then is hate and berate Williams despite him crying at his decision and supporting KU any time he can. He even wore a Jayhawk sticker at this year's title game despite getting beat by Kansas the game before! Not that I like his discrimination, but I understand that Williams only allows two schools' apparel to be worn at his summer youth basketball camps: North Carolina and Kansas. Don't tell me he doesn't care about KU. It's high time Jayhawks began appreciating how he kept their school in national prominence for 14 years.
OK, so that's one problem I have with Kansas. No biggie, anyone can get upset when you are good and yet still get chosen over someone else. But then of course for me...the 1988 national title was robbed from OU by Kansas. That's hard to let go. OU dominated the country all year and dominated Kansas twice in the regular season. If OU was ever going to win a title, '88 was it. And then here comes Danny fucking Manning stealing it from us Sooners like Jesse James. Moving on.
If you win it fair and square, you win it. Kansas steamrolled its way to their region final. So did North Carolina and Memphis. Cool, those teams earned their places in the Final Four. (UCLA being in the Final Four is bullshit to me too, by the way, because it should have been bounced by Texas A&M in the second round, mind you.) UNC and Memphis came up big against big teams, Louisville and Texas respectively. But Kansas played meekly all game against little Davidson. They knew they had to stop Stephan Curry and couldn't. They couldn't even stop the smaller inside game of surging powerhouse Davidson. In the end, it was a poor play call that gave, GAVE, Kansas the victory. Davidson coach Bob McKillop called for Curry to directly receive the ball on the in-bound play from the Kansas end with about five seconds left and down by two. He expected the phenom to create his own shot, and his own trey nonethless! Of course Kansas was all over it. He never gets free and has to pass off to a teammate who isn't expecting to take that big of a shot. The poor bastard lays up a contested brick, gift-wrapping a Kansas trip to the Final Four. Hell, Davidson didn't even need a three -- could have gone for a duece.
They beat Williams and the Tar Heels at their own running, fastbreak game in the semifinal. Fair enough. I give them credit on that one.
But they lost all but the last 10 seconds of the championship. They fouled Memphis up and down the court the last three minutes. Of course, the Tigers choked by missing so many freebies, especially those last three minutes. And then the final regulation play: Memphis doesn't foul. OK, fine, they should have at least taken a time out. Coach John Calipari is right there at the end of the court where the play began to dole out instruction. But he doesn't. Memphis played solid defense on the perimeter, but Mario Chalmers just hit a massively brilliant shot. There's no getting around that one. With the poor coaching decisions and foul-shooting behind everyone, all Chalmers has to do is hit a miracle trey, and he does it. I give him full credit. What a great college player. What a great way to go out. With Joey Dorsey fouled out and all the momentum in Kansas' corner there was no question the Jayhawks would run away with it in overtime. But it just goes to show, Bill Self (who I contend isn't a big-game coach) didn't win the NCAA tournament as much as Calipari, his Tigers, and Davidson coach McKillop lost it.
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