Amazing? Agonizing? Flip a coin, 'cause both apply to title game

For Kansas, it was the best.

For Memphis, it was the worst.

For college basketball, it was ...

"A fabulous game," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "It's one thing to win, but it's another thing to win the way we won."

Yes, it is.

Again, Kansas was down nine points with 1:57 remaining. I can't stress that enough because you don't come back from that against anybody, much less a No. 1 seed like Memphis that had already set the record for most victories in a season with 38. Just doesn't happen. No way. No how, particularly when you were forced to start fouling to extend the game with 2:13 remaining, desperate and out of other options.

That's when Self officially started the hack-a-Tiger approach, by the way.

With 2:13 remaining in regulation.

It was something that had been discussed at length throughout February and March, so much that John Calipari had grown angry and defensive while insisting anybody who believed his team's poor free-throw percentage would be a factor in the Tigers' quest for a national title simply didn't know what they were talking about.

"We'll make them when they matter," Calipari often said in a dismissive tone. "We'll make them when they matter."

So there they were, this imposing group of athletes who had run through Michigan State, Texas and UCLA on their way to the title game in a position to sink free throws to earn their school's first national title, and it was perfect, really. I mean, what better way to quiet every critic and hater and -- as Calipari likes to refer to them -- miserable in the country than by nailing free throws to clinch it. So when Robert Dozier made those two to push the Memphis lead to 60-51, it seemed like Calipari would get the last laugh to go with his first national title.

And then it happened.

Man, did it happen.

Darrell Arthur sank a jumper and then -- after a Memphis turnover -- Sherron Collins drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it 60-56 with 1:46 left. Then Kansas fouled. Then Chris Douglas-Roberts hit two free throws, and that moment will go down as the last good moment of the Memphis season, the last time any fan who spent the past 23 years reminiscing about Keith Lee and Andre Turner and that 1985 Final Four appearance would smile while watching this version of their team.

What came next was a Dorsey foul on Chalmers.

It was his fifth foul of the game.

It marked the end of his career.

It sent him to the sideline.

It put him on his knees.

Chalmers hit both free throws and made it 62-58 with 1:23 remaining. Then Douglas-Roberts missed the front end of a one-and-one. Then Arthur scored over Shawn Taggart to cut the lead to 62-60 with 1:01 remaining. Then Douglas-Roberts missed two more free throws. And then -- after an offensive rebound -- Derrick Rose found himself at the line shooting a pair with 10.8 seconds left, and making both would essentially secure victory.

But he didn't make both.