The NCAA men's basketball championship goes to Kansas State after an overtime battle against the University of Memphis Monday, April 7.  The Jayhawks not only beat Memphis 75-68, but stole the Tigers’ chance at a 39-1 season record.

Memphis and Kansas moved on to the championship game after beating UCLA and North Carolina in the NCAA Final Four tournament Saturday, April 5. 

The Tigers, beating UCLA 78-63 in the NCAA men's semifinals, made their record 38-1, which not only pushed them forward to the championship game but also made Memphis the team with the most wins ever in a single season.

“Going into the game, we knew that we was going to win. Ain't too much to say,” said Derrick Rose, star freshman for Memphis finishing Saturday’s game with 25 points and nine rebounds. “We're just a great team. With the team that we have, it's hard beating us.”

Although Memphis won by an average of 16 points in five NCAA tournament games, the team fell behind 5-0 against UCLA at the start of the game.  At the end of the first half, the Tigers led the Bruins 38-35. With nearly 13 minutes left on the clock, Memphis ruled the scoreboard by five before securing semi-final-closure.

“You have to give credit to Memphis State,” said Howland. “There's a reason why they've only lost one game and they've won 38. They're a very, very good team.”

In the Kansas-North Carolina game, the Tar Heels failed in their efforts to pull off the biggest Final Four comeback ever, losing to the Jayhawks 84-66. During the first half, Carolina attempted to catch up to a 40-12 score.  Within nine minutes left of the half, with the help of Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne Ellington, the Tar Heels trailed by just five points.

“We sort of came out a little more casual than we would've liked and they hit us right between the eyes,” said Carolina coach Roy Williams after the tough loss.

“We've had a good year, but I don't think anybody's goal here was to be one of the top four teams in the country,'' Hansbrough said having 17 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels on Saturday. “It's to be the top team. I'm frustrated with that.”

After beating North Carolina, Kansas had high hopes going into the finals against a 38-1 Memphis. Starting off slow, both Kansas and Memphis battled basket for basket until the half where the Tigers trailed by only five points.

 Although Memphis stayed close with Kansas on the scoreboard, they were nowhere near equal playing field in free-throw percentages.  Memphis coach John Calipari’s theory that his players “didn’t have to be good because they would always come through when the stakes were highest,” proved not so true for 59 percent free-throw-shooting Tigers. 

``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.''

In attempt to bounce back from the Kansas heat, Rose scored 14 of his team's 16 points during the second half, give the Tigers a 60-51 lead with 2:12 left.

“It wasn't really the free throws,'' Rose said, in response to his team’s shooting percent. “If we'd done things before the free throws, we would've been in good shape.”

After Memphis missed four out of five free-throws that would have sealed the deal for the Tigers, Mario Chalmers’ came through with a game-changing 3-pointer at 2.1 seconds left in game play.  “It'll probably be the biggest shot ever made in Kansas history,” said Kansas coach Bill Self.

“Ten seconds to go, we're thinking we're national champs, all of a sudden a kid makes a shot, and we're not,” Calipari said after the tough loss. Even though Memphis did not take the gold, they still went home with a record of 38-2 and the most wins in an NCAA season. Coach Calipari adds, “It will probably hit me like a ton of bricks tomorrow, that we had it in our grasp.”