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We hung out at the hotel and got some work done Monday morning before again returning to the river walk. Everyone was fairly subdued. It could have been the combination of beer and BBQ from the night before, but I believe nerves played into it as well. It’s tough to get to the National Championship game. Think about it, 64 teams play in the tournament and only one gets to end their season with victory. We had a chance to be that team. I was going to have a chance to experience it.
A bonus to the day was that one of my favorite musicians, Bob Schneider, was playing a free concert. He put on a good show; played some of the favorites and threw in a few new songs as well.
We arrived at the Alamo Dome about 80 min before tip-off. I wanted to grab the tivo remote and just fast forward to the start of the game, but it just wasn’t an option.
First Half: I was a little surprised that we didn’t play nervous. I had seen us do it in other games this year against defenses that weren’t nearly as good as Memphis. We ran our offence, worked the ball inside, and got great pressure and even a few steals with Chalmers and Collins. I believe we were up by 5 at half, but it didn’t matter. We were up by 29 at one time on North Carolina and I knew it didn’t matter. When you’re playing teams like NC, and Memphis no lead is safe. Right Billy Packer?
While I’m on the subject, I would have paid twice as much for my tickets not to have to listen to him during the games.
Second Half: I really don’t know how we got ourselves into a 14 point swing in the second half. We played fairly good and neither team was hitting from the parameter, it just kind of happened. I have watched the game several times on TV and it still surprises me when I look at the score and we are down by 9. Everyone credits Mario Chalmers for sending the game into overtime, and they should. He hit a well guarded, clutch 3 point shot. But if you watch the crowed, the vast majority of Kansas fans, including the bench, weren’t in hysterics when he hit it, they expected it. Sherron Collins is the one who gave us a fighting chance. In the final two minutes he created offence when they clamped down on us. He had an impossible steal on the inbound play and then managed to get the ball to Rush as he is falling out of bounds with two Memphis players in front of him. He then calmly rose, took up residence on the 3 point line and waited to deliver again with a 3 that cut the lead from 9 to 4.
Overtime: They didn’t have a chance. We ran our offence, produced high percentage points in the paint and finished it off with a fast break and a clinic on how to shoot high-pressure free throws. When the fireworks went off I really didn’t understand what happened. 10 minutes earlier I was being called into the boss’s office to get fired and I just walked out with a raise, corner office and a shiny trophy. UTEP, Duke, Arizona, Maryland, Bucknell, Bradley, Rhode Island, Syracuse, UCLA, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Kentucky. Off the top of my head these are just a few of the teams that have ended our tournament run in the past 20 years. It’s something you have to think about for the next 7 months until the next season. But not this year.
This is probably my favorite photo from San Antonio. Time was always a subject matter during the weekend. Whether it was a flight time, wanting time to move along with a 28 point lead on North Carolina, wanting more time when we were down by 9, an answered prayer at 2.8 seconds or a championship in overtime. However in this photo, time surrendered to the moment for us. We were all given the opportunity to remember when we watched the Kansas Jayhawks win the 2008 National Championship.
[About the photo: I left the shutter open for 1 sec and moved the flash to rear sync mode. This allows it to fire at the end of the shutter to gather the background light first.]