It all comes together for Kansas as 20 years of frustration eases

SAN ANTONIO

Twenty years have passed agonizingly in Lawrence, Kan., home of college basketball and James Naismith and Phog Allen and all those cobwebs Bill Self brushes away every day.

For 20 years, the draining clock has pulled Kansas basketball away from the last of two NCAA championships, captured in 1988 in Kansas City, Mo.

The interim has been draped in human drama, of course, owing largely in this decade to coach Roy Williams' tortured departure for North Carolina five years ago and Self's installation from Illinois.

But Kansas is hardly a program adrift, even though Kansas keeps score in different terms, on another level - the thin-air level, where four straight Big 12 titles, two appearances in the NCAA tournament's round of eight, and now five Final Four berths since 1991 are the markers.

Markers, in many ways, of raw and unvarnished frustration.

Twenty years did not vanish in the breathless moments it took for guard Mario Chalmers' 3-point shotto to arc through the Alamodome air and then the basket - with two seconds left - and send Monday night's title game against Memphis into overtime.

Twenty years still separate that 1988 Kansas City night with those extra five minutes of Monday's game, when the Jayhawks outscored Memphis by five and carted off a 75-68 triumph.

But for Kansans raised on the language and lore of "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk," the weight - and the wait - of 20 years instantly became lighter on their shoulders, minds and hearts.

The Jayhawks (37-3) rallied through a scintillating final 2:12 in regulation from as many as nine points behind to carry off their priceless trophy.

It's true that Memphis (38-2), a notoriously poor free-throw shooting team in the regular season, was ultimately bitten by that vulnerability.

The Tigers, who had roared back from a five-point halftime deficit to control the second half in long stretches, missed three in the last 20 seconds to leave Kansas the life and opportunity it exploited.

They will haunt Memphis' NBA-in-waiting backcourt of Derrick Rose and first-team All-American Chris Douglas-Roberts, who failed to convert those foul shots to cap otherwise strong nights; it was 22 points for Douglas-Roberts, 18 for Rose after a shaky three-point, three-turnover first half.

But credit the Jayhawks more for tremendous defense, and for more individual plays made, capped by Chalmers' icy dagger. Douglas-Roberts had as much as predicted Sunday that it would wind up this way: Playmakers would decide a game between teams so closely matched.

So they did, and Kansas had more. Darrell Arthur - 20 points, 10 rebounds. Sherron Collins - three steals, six assists. Brandon Rush - 12 points, six boards. And Chalmers - 18 points, four steals, one historic 3-pointer never to be forgotten in title-game references.

What the contest lacked in national TV allure, thanks to the market size of its participants, it easily compensated for in lung- and leg-testing effort. It was inspired. It was worthy.

Best, it oozed the complete, utter competitiveness you ask for but are never guaranteed when the curtain rises on this final game.

Good on Kansas. Good on Memphis.

And good on Self, who mused this week, when nudged by the media, as to whether national titles should be a fair measure of coaches of elite programs.

"I think that you watch a team play over time," Self said. "And if a team plays unselfish, they play hard, like each other, play smart, execute, that's how coaches are judged within our profession.

"Certainly you know the flavor of the month or whatever the fans like or the media likes is the guy that's standing in the end. I don't think just because you're the last one standing makes you a lot smarter. Probably pretty lucky."

Lucky, good, smart, determined: They all conspired, on an electric Monday night in Texas, to leave Self and Kansas the last ones standing in the end - the ultimate scorecard checked boldly in their favor.

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com