When you have no vested interest in either team playing in a championship game, you just hope for an exciting finish, perhaps a clutch performance that’ll have you telling your grandkids, “I remember when.”
Thank goodness for Mario Chalmers.
With Kansas barely hanging on life support Monday night, the Jayhawks guard delivered a game-tying 3-pointer as time expired in regulation. Kansas went on to win 75-68 in overtime.
But for a while there, it appeared as though the Tigers would, somewhat painfully, back into a national title. They led by nine points, 60-51, with 2:12 to play in the second half. Then, with a chance to ice the victory, Memphis’ stars, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose, missed four of five free throws in the final 1:15.
At one point, Kansas, too, seemed incapable of making a clutch play. With Memphis ahead 62-60, Douglas-Roberts missed both free throws, and the Jayhawks got the break they were looking for, only to allow the Tigers’ Robert Dozier to grab an offensive rebound with 16 seconds left in regulation.
Chalmers, however, didn’t disappoint. His 3-pointer not only saved Kansas, it rescued the legacy of this championship game. In 10 years, we won’t remember the down-the-stretch follies; we will remember Chalmers, with a defender’s hand in his face, coming through like a champion.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)