Tigers pull off historic choke job in OT title loss

Rose missed the first one.

Even with all that -- the missed free throws, the turnover, the dumb foul, the exhausted lineup -- Memphis had to screw up one more time to lose. And that's what Calipari did.

After Rose made the second free throw for a 63-60 lead, Kansas had one chance to avoid the loss: Make a 3-pointer.

Which means Memphis had one job to ice the national championship: Foul the Jayhawks before they could shoot one.

Kansas had called timeout before Rose' free throws. Calipari says he told his players to prevent a 3-point field goal by fouling, but whatever he said was lost in translation because the savviest player on his team -- Rose -- allowed Collins to dribble 60 feet. Collins passed to Chalmers, who drilled a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left.

That forced overtime, which meant there were still five minutes left. But in the words of Billy Packer: This game was over. Kansas scored the first six points of overtime to extend its mind-boggling run to 18-3, and Memphis was done.

To his credit, Calipari took every bit of the blame. He said his team should have been prepared to handle that lead. He said he should have played his bench more.

"I take full responsibility," Calipari said. "You're supposed to win that game. ... Our kids fought. They did everything right. I'm proud of them (but) I'm disappointed in myself. I look at that and say, 'We should have won the game.'"

Calipari is good enough to get Memphis back to the Final Four, but it will take a while. Dorsey is a senior. Rose and Douglas-Roberts are sure to turn pro. Dozier, a 6-foot-9 junior who had 11 points and 10 rebounds and is an athlete in the mold of recent first-round picks Tyrus Thomas and Hakim Warrick, could turn pro as well. Those are Memphis' best four players.

Memphis' very best player, Rose, played all 45 minutes. Other than his missed free throw, he was spectacular again. He had 18 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals, and he scored 15 points in an eight-minute spurt late in the second half to give Memphis what seemed to be an insurmountable lead.

Turns out, nothing from Monday night was insurmountable.

Unless the collapse by Memphis goes down as the worst in championship history.