BigRedChief
04-07-2008, 11:22 PM
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/v-print/story/565753.html
<TABLE><TBODY></TBODY></TABLE>SAN ANTONIO | Seven hours before tipoff, the heads of college and professional basketball had a joint news conference announcing an alliance aimed at fixing basketball from the ground up.
Myles Brand and David Stern should start by making viewing of Monday’s national championship between the Kansas Jayhawks and Memphis Tigers mandatory for everyone involved in basketball.
No doubt the college and pro games have a lot of ills that must be addressed. But many of those shortcomings were masked quite well as the Jayhawks and Tigers settled the debate about America’s best amateur team.
It took overtime — forced by Mario Chalmers’ floating, three-point rainbow with 2.1 seconds to play in regulation — but the Jayhawks eventually proved they are the kings of the college game with a pulsating 75-68 victory.
The Jayhawks trailed 60-51 with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left in regulation. The game appeared to be over. The Tigers were in control, and then once the Hawks mounted a rally, the refs wouldn’t cooperate.
Sherron Collins raced downcourt with a chance to tie the score with 25 seconds left, was fouled on his way to the basket, missed the layup but didn’t draw a whistle from Ed Hightower’s crew.
Thankfully, the Tigers choked at the free-throw line, missing three straight crucial freebies down the stretch. Memphis star Chris Douglas-Roberts slammed the ball to the court after missing two straight and should’ve drawn a technical foul.
Again, Hightower’s crew swallowed their whistles. Appropriately, Chalmers made the cowardly officiating irrelevant by draining the miracle three-pointer and sending the game to overtime.
Kansas had too much momentum in the extra session and jumped to a six-point advantage.
Man, it was a beautiful game, pitting two teams with a near-perfect blend of experience, talent and egoless coaching. John Calipari and Bill Self let their horses run, drive the lane and make plays offensively. On the defensive end, the Jayhawks and Tigers challenged shots, protected the paint and scrapped for every loose ball.
It wasn’t the high-scoring affair the experts predicted. The defense was too tenacious at both ends for a lot of points. Experienced, well-coached teams play with pride on the defensive end, too.
The result was an Ali-Frazier slugfest, a mix of defensive and offensive brilliance, a game that proved the sport is worth saving.
Brand, the head of the NCAA, and Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, are intent on doing just that. Their news conference was short on details but filled with substantive symbolism. The NBA and NCAA are going to work together on a youth-basketball initiative directed at cleaning up summer basketball.
Brand and Stern want to help AAU and the shoe companies clean up summer ball. They want to regulate it and control it to some yet-to-be-determined degree. Again, the news conference was short on concrete details. The purpose of the announcement was mostly to signal that the institutions realize they need each other and need to work together.
This is long overdue.
Despite Monday night’s competitive and entertaining championship, this tournament produced mostly mismatches and boring games. There aren’t nearly enough teams like Kansas and Memphis, squads with skilled upperclassmen and sophomores and freshmen who contribute and learn.
Monday’s game was like Florida teams that won back-to-back championships meeting each other in the final rather than going against one-and-done freshmen Greg Oden, Michael Conley and Ohio State a year ago.
Douglas-Roberts and Brandon Rush, junior All-Americans, led the Tigers and Jayhawks, respectively.
Yes, Memphis freshman Derrick Rose revealed himself to be the tournament’s best player and maybe the game’s most NBA-ready player. But he developed and flourished on a team that didn’t need him to dominate until the end of the season.
He took over Monday’s game in the second half, scoring 15 of his 18 points. In the opening 20 minutes, Rose made just one of four shots and turned the ball over three times. The Tigers trailed 33-28 at the break.
Kansas had frustrated Rose by backing off of him and denying him easy trips into the lane. After the break, Rose got to the glass and found his outside shooting touch. It was a deadly combination for a time.
Well, until Chalmers buried the Tigers with a three-point dagger.
<TABLE><TBODY></TBODY></TABLE>SAN ANTONIO | Seven hours before tipoff, the heads of college and professional basketball had a joint news conference announcing an alliance aimed at fixing basketball from the ground up.
Myles Brand and David Stern should start by making viewing of Monday’s national championship between the Kansas Jayhawks and Memphis Tigers mandatory for everyone involved in basketball.
No doubt the college and pro games have a lot of ills that must be addressed. But many of those shortcomings were masked quite well as the Jayhawks and Tigers settled the debate about America’s best amateur team.
It took overtime — forced by Mario Chalmers’ floating, three-point rainbow with 2.1 seconds to play in regulation — but the Jayhawks eventually proved they are the kings of the college game with a pulsating 75-68 victory.
The Jayhawks trailed 60-51 with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left in regulation. The game appeared to be over. The Tigers were in control, and then once the Hawks mounted a rally, the refs wouldn’t cooperate.
Sherron Collins raced downcourt with a chance to tie the score with 25 seconds left, was fouled on his way to the basket, missed the layup but didn’t draw a whistle from Ed Hightower’s crew.
Thankfully, the Tigers choked at the free-throw line, missing three straight crucial freebies down the stretch. Memphis star Chris Douglas-Roberts slammed the ball to the court after missing two straight and should’ve drawn a technical foul.
Again, Hightower’s crew swallowed their whistles. Appropriately, Chalmers made the cowardly officiating irrelevant by draining the miracle three-pointer and sending the game to overtime.
Kansas had too much momentum in the extra session and jumped to a six-point advantage.
Man, it was a beautiful game, pitting two teams with a near-perfect blend of experience, talent and egoless coaching. John Calipari and Bill Self let their horses run, drive the lane and make plays offensively. On the defensive end, the Jayhawks and Tigers challenged shots, protected the paint and scrapped for every loose ball.
It wasn’t the high-scoring affair the experts predicted. The defense was too tenacious at both ends for a lot of points. Experienced, well-coached teams play with pride on the defensive end, too.
The result was an Ali-Frazier slugfest, a mix of defensive and offensive brilliance, a game that proved the sport is worth saving.
Brand, the head of the NCAA, and Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, are intent on doing just that. Their news conference was short on details but filled with substantive symbolism. The NBA and NCAA are going to work together on a youth-basketball initiative directed at cleaning up summer basketball.
Brand and Stern want to help AAU and the shoe companies clean up summer ball. They want to regulate it and control it to some yet-to-be-determined degree. Again, the news conference was short on concrete details. The purpose of the announcement was mostly to signal that the institutions realize they need each other and need to work together.
This is long overdue.
Despite Monday night’s competitive and entertaining championship, this tournament produced mostly mismatches and boring games. There aren’t nearly enough teams like Kansas and Memphis, squads with skilled upperclassmen and sophomores and freshmen who contribute and learn.
Monday’s game was like Florida teams that won back-to-back championships meeting each other in the final rather than going against one-and-done freshmen Greg Oden, Michael Conley and Ohio State a year ago.
Douglas-Roberts and Brandon Rush, junior All-Americans, led the Tigers and Jayhawks, respectively.
Yes, Memphis freshman Derrick Rose revealed himself to be the tournament’s best player and maybe the game’s most NBA-ready player. But he developed and flourished on a team that didn’t need him to dominate until the end of the season.
He took over Monday’s game in the second half, scoring 15 of his 18 points. In the opening 20 minutes, Rose made just one of four shots and turned the ball over three times. The Tigers trailed 33-28 at the break.
Kansas had frustrated Rose by backing off of him and denying him easy trips into the lane. After the break, Rose got to the glass and found his outside shooting touch. It was a deadly combination for a time.
Well, until Chalmers buried the Tigers with a three-point dagger.