Frozen in time: KU's comeback against Memphis

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•••

The clock ticks to the 2-minute mark. Memphis 60, Kansas 51.

From here on is forever part of KU lore and a Memphis nightmare.

Darrell Arthur knocked down a long jumper, beginning a series of week-later observations from KU coach Bill Self that leave him almost dumbfounded.

Sherron Collins then stole the inbounds pass, threw it to Russell Robinson and got it back for a corner three-pointer. Until then, Kansas was one of 10 from behind the arc.

Memphis 60, Kansas 56.

Memphis star Chris Douglas-Roberts and Chalmers trade a pair of free throws, but the Jayhawks get the better end of the deal. Chalmers had been fouled by the Tigers’ best inside defender Joey Dorsey, caught on a switch 25 feet from the basket. It was Dorsey’s fifth.

“Oh my God,” Dorsey said when he heard the whistle. He walked back to the bench with a sense of dread and watched most of the remaining minutes with a towel on his head.

At this point, Kansas was fouling, but Self had explicit instructions not to foul Douglas-Roberts.

“So what do we do out of the timeout?” Self said. “Mario fouls CDR at midcourt.”

But Douglas-Roberts missed the front end of a one-and-one. Arthur banked in a jumper and made it 62-60 with 1:01 remaining.

Douglas-Roberts missed a shot, and Collins followed with a missed layup that is ruled a turnover since it wasn’t much of a shot. Then Douglas-Roberts made a decision that will haunt him and Memphis forever.

After Collins’ turnover with 20 seconds left, Douglas-Roberts took a long outlet pass. Instead of pulling the ball out and burning seconds, he went to the basket and was fouled by Arthur. CDR was short on both free throws.

But Robert Dozier snuck in behind Arthur to track down the rebound, and the Tigers still had the ball, a two-point lead, and 11 seconds between them and a national title. Brandon Rush fouled Rose.

Rose missed the first free throw, made the second, and the Tigers, leading 63-60, stood 10.8 seconds from a national championship.

•••

You fall head-over-heels for a team because it’s local or winning or it’s your parents’ school, and for 37-year-old Jodi Bouyack, it was a little of all of that. She grew up in Clay Center, Kan., closer to Kansas State, but KU was spoken in her home, and naturally that’s where she would attend school.

For her senior speech, Bouyack spoke for 30 minutes on the Jayhawks’ 1986 Final Four run.

“That was my favorite team up until now,” she said.

The season’s end always brings sadness to Bouyack. She thinks of her father, Ron Habluetzel. He died 18 years ago after helping raise three daughters. They shared a love for the Jayhawks, and when a tournament loss brings the year to a close, well, it’s a little tougher for Bouyack than other KU fans.

But this season felt different.

So did Monday night, especially with the final seconds of regulation ticking off the clock.

Roughly 730 miles from the Alamodome, at the Union Mission in Memphis, everybody was on their feet, including the three who said they weren’t fans of the Tigers. Before the game, Patrick had said anybody not rooting for Memphis could go to the front of the food line.

“I wanted everyone to know who they were,” Patrick said.

•••

Calipari said he wanted to foul Collins, but the Jayhawks’ small, fleet and powerful guard made it impossible.

Still, it appeared Rose was close enough to give Collins a shove, but what little contact there was came after Collins, who had lost control of his final dribble, got the ball back in time for a flip to Chalmers, moving to his left.

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