NCAA Basketball Championship

Last night was the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game. It was between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Memphis Tigers. It was played in San Antonio, Texas. This was probably the most exciting championship game that I have ever seen. What a game!! The whole game was exciting, well played, and very close scoring. I couldn't have asked for more. There was excellent demonstrations of athleticism by these guys last night. There was a lot of good passing and shooting and even showy things like ally-oops and slam-dunks. I was completely entertained.

The only thing lacking was free throws. That is what cost Memphis the game. It has been a weakness for them throughout this tournament, and it came back to bite them in the booty. With the way that Memphis was at the free-throw line, you would think that they were playing with bricks. Memphis missed four of five free throws that would have put the game and the title out of reach. The Tigers led by nine points with 2:12 remaining. They still held a three-point lead with 10 seconds left. And they let the game get away from them in overtime of the 75-68 loss to the Jayhawks

With 10.8 seconds on the clock, Derrick Rose from Memphis was fouled and had two shots. The score was 62-60, with Memphis up by two. If he made both free-throws, it would become a two possession game, making it impossible to tie. If he made one, then only a three-point shot would send them into overtime. His first shot hit the rim and fell off. He made the second, but the one miss gave Kansas its opportunity to tie.



Kansas had the ball with no timeouts, trailing by three, and with the 10.8 seconds left to make that three-point shot. It was Collins who pushed the ball downcourt, going just fast enough so that the Tigers couldn't foul him and take away the chance to attempt the needed 3-pointer and basically end the game. Sherron Collins handed off to Mario 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.

Kansas dominated in overtime. Every player made a point in overtime. It was a well-deserved win by Kansas. They won 75-68. Only Chris Douglas-Roberts made points for Memphis. They missed rebounds and just didn't play well enough in overtime.




The Story of Miracle Mario (taken from ESPN news)

The shot that saved a season took just a moment -- a Shining Moment, you could say. After hitting the biggest Final Four jumper since Keith Smart's in 1987, Mario Chalmers summoned his mother, Almarie, down from the Alamodome stands to courtside. The unflappable Kansas Jayhawk wrapped both arms around her, laid his head on her shoulder and bawled like a baby.
She pumped her left arm. He wouldn't let go.
"We did it, Mom," Chalmers said between sobs.
"A dream come true," Almarie said later, her own eyes glistening. "A prayer answered. We've been waiting on this moment since he was 2."
This moment -- this Shining Moment -- was almost preordained four years earlier, when Mario went to the Final Four in this same building with his dad, current Kansas director of basketball operations Ronnie Chalmers. They watched Connecticut beat Georgia Tech for the title, and Ronnie remembers one spectacular play from that game when he jumped to his feet but Mario remained in his chair.
"What's wrong?" Ronnie asked his son.
"I'm thinking," Mario said.
"What are you thinking about?"
"One day," Mario said, "I'm going to be out there winning the national championship."
That goal guided the Chalmers family from Alaska to Kansas three years ago. It guided them to this game and ultimately to this moment -- this Shining Moment -- that rescued Kansas from near-certain defeat and gave the 2008 NCAA tournament its signature.
Chalmers' shot capped the Jayhawks' steely nine-point comeback in the final 2:12 of regulation on their way to a 75-68 overtime triumph. It was the blow that broke an excellent Tigers squad -- a Tigers squad that turned the school's first championship into a stunning championship choke.
"You have a lead like that," coach John Calipari said, "you're supposed to win the game."
The emotional whiplash that followed Chalmers' 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining will be felt for years on both campuses. Memphis will always love a team that finished 38-2 -- but always wince at the way it unraveled at the very end. And giddy Kansas now has another name to add to its list of all-time heroes: Clyde Lovellette, Wilt Chamberlain, Danny Manning …
Mario Chalmers.
"It will probably be the biggest shot in Kansas history," coach Bill Self said.
"It's great for a parent to see their son's dream come true. … You've got to think about it every day the rest of your life. This is the moment."
One Shining Moment.



The Jayhawks won the championship for the first time in 20 years. And they deserved it. They played the best last night.

"Being up seven, being down nine, being up two, down five, going to overtime," Kansas center Cole Aldrich said. "We fought it out, and it's surreal. It's nuts."

This game was not about coaches or side stories, though. It was about the game, and what a dandy it was -- a well-needed reprieve from a more-or-less blah tournament in which 42 of 63 games were decided by double digits. This was the first overtime in the title game since 1997, when Arizona beat Kentucky 84-79.



What a great way to finish this year's March Madness. I was somewhat disappointed in this year. Most of the games were blowouts and I'm really disappointed that ALL of the number one seed teams made the Final Four. That really bothers me.

Spencer and I were in charge of the brackets for our group of friends. Here is our Bracket of Truth, which says how the tournament went. Doing these with Spencer has been one of my favorite pastimes. I like highlighting and crossing out and seeing who is in what place. I have no idea why it is so much fun to me, but it is. I especially like to do it with Spencer. It's weird, I know, but I just go with it.



And now...the news that we all have been waiting for. The standings.


Dan D. 74
Toby 72
Dave 71
JP 71
Lisa 71
Thatcher 70
Karissa 69
Dan C. 65
Brianna 63
Spencer 62
Jenny 61
Mark 60
Jorden 56
Troy 34

The winner is Dan Ditto!! Yay dirty little homeless monkey!





This is the first year that a girl has not won. I was really hoping that Lisa would win. She got very close, but just not quite there.

I am always sad when March Madness is over. It is fun and I like to be competitive with the brackets (especially with Spencer...notice that I beat him, AGAIN). But I always manage to survive without it. The nice thing about sports is that they have spaced the exciting parts of the season out so that there is always something new of interest to replace the thing that just ended. For example, now we are going to be focused on NBA playoffs. So I bid March Madness a fond farewell. Until next year.

By the way, we are still going to do brackets next year even though we aren't living here. Distance does not mean that we stop sacred traditions.

Also of note, the boys play anther bracket game with Dave's dad. He wins every year. Guess what....he won yet again. Congrats Mark! We need to pick a playoff game to take you to...

In addition, we want to thank Dan and Jorden for having us over to their house again. We watched the game at their house with our other friends Dave and Brooke and Dan Ditto. It was really fun. I love to watch all of the guys together. They used to be roommates, and they are hilarious when you get them all together. They have a lot of inside jokes and it is so funny. It was extra funny for me because I am still on drugs for my kidney pain. I had a really good time. And I keep getting really sad about not living near you guys anymore...