They were the worst of the #1 seeds and barely escaped the upset to Davidson in the Elite Eight. Now, they are the National Champions. College basketball fans had become accustomed to watching Kansas fail to live up to expectations and choke in the NCAA tournament. Can you say Bucknell or Bradley? But the Jayhawks silenced the doubters by reaching the Final Four and then blitzing a North Carolina squad that had looked invincible during the tournament.
The National Championship game went back and forth until Memphis and freshman star Derrick Rose took control. Facing a nine point deficit with two minutes to play, Kansas seemed destined to fall short yet again. It looked like just another disappointing ending to a season of high expectations for coach Bill Self and his team. Only this time, the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, Mario Chalmers, and his Kansas teammates decided to write a different ending.
Give an assist to Memphis. Despite his best efforts to diffuse talk of his team's struggles from the foul line, John Calipari's Tigers couldn't seal the deal from the charity stripe. Kansas rode their momentum and emotion into overtime exhibiting brilliant offensive execution and stifled Memphis on the defensive end. As the buzzer sounded, the result was one amazing Jayhawks comeback.
Kansas finally has their One Shining Moment.
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