While I was wrong about predicting them to not reach the final four, my reason for doing so was, in the end, the reason they finished second - “Memphis’ bricks at the line will bring them down.”

I thought Kansas might have trouble lasting 40 minutes after the emotional game with UNC. And it appeared in the final minutes that they weren’t going to be able to finish this one like they did Saturday night. Memphis had the game in hand, but then missed four out of five free throws in the final minute, and Kansas sends it to overtime.

And now, Kansas has their third national championship, joining UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina and Duke as the only schools with three or more titles. (I believe that’s the full list, but it’s late, so don’t hold me to that.)

I saw Rick Pitino on PTI a month or so ago and they asked him about Memphis. He said their only possible weakness was at the line. Others have said the same. Unfortunately, despite having shot the ball quite well from the line during the tournament, it proved to be their downfall anyway.

I didn’t really care who won at this point, and just wanted a close, exciting game that went down to the end.

That’s what we got. A tremendous shot by Mario Chalmers to tie the game with two seconds left in regulation. When Kansas scored the first four points in overtime, I thought Memphis had to score the next trip down or it was over. They didn’t. It was.

I feel bad for Memphis. Anytime you lose a lead late in a game it’s unfortunate, but being up by nine with just over two minutes remaining and then missing four straight free throws to let Kansas back in it has to be devastating.

I’ve never been a Memphis fan, and have never really cared for Calipari, but I was sort of pulling for both teams tonight. I hated to see either team lose, and I would have felt bad for Memphis regardless of how they lost. But I really hated to see it happen the way it did.

Nevertheless, a great game to end the season.

Now, the long wait until November . . .