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SAN ANTONIO | The air felt heavy, KU fans had gone quiet, and the clock ticked toward a Memphis national championship.
Then Mario Chalmers pulled up from behind the line, willed his body into shooting position and hit the most important three-pointer in Kansas history.
It should never have happened.
Up by three with 10 seconds left — and having already missed five free throws that would have sealed the game — Memphis coach John Calipari talked to his players from the side line. Derrick Rose had just hit a free throw, and now the message was clear: Don’t let Kansas get a shot off.
“Sherron Collins got away,” Calipari explained. “We were going to foul in half court. He got away from our man. When our man did foul him, pushing him to the floor, he probably didn’t push him hard enough because of the space. But we were fouling.”
Collins said: “I think I got fouled, actually, but I ain’t complaining.”
Even then, the play that saved the season almost didn’t happen. Collins stumbled, the ball looked as it if was going to pop loose — and then Chalmers had it.
During the huddle, Kansas coach Bill Self had offered his own message for his guys: “You gotta believe.”
He backed up his hope with a play — Collins pushing the ball, Chalmers relocating and, with luck, a chance at overtime.
So now Chalmers had the ball. He pulled up. He willed his body into a shooting position. There were just seconds left. And even then Memphis had a chance to close out the game, to take back what they were so close to giving away, to make good on Calipari’s point: Don’t let them get a shot off.
“With Mario’s shot, man, I was right there, left hand up,” Rose said. “He’s just a great shooter.”
Rose knew it was good as soon as the ball moved past his extended fingers — inches from the title, but too late. Chalmers knew, too.
“I thought it was going in when it left my hand,” Chalmers said. “It felt pretty good when I released it.”
And that was it. Eight of the most important seconds in Kansas history — an admonishment to believe, a play to break free, a guard who wasn’t fouled and another who just barely hit the biggest basket of his entire life.
After that — after The Three — KU was on its way to another title.
“We knew it,” Collins said. “Once they let us back in, we knew we were going to take off. That’s why we’re national champions.”
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