SAN ANTONIO -- Maybe no one ever wanted to believe Memphis could end up as one of the great teams in NCAA history.
The Memphis moons were lunar-eclipsed in this Final Four, engulfed by titans of basketball industry. UCLA, North Carolina and Kansas had combined for 17 national titles to none for the Tigers.
"Three blue bloods and a blue collar," Coach John Calipari joked.
But Memphis, after dispatching UCLA with such unexpected ease in Saturday's national semifinal game, now has a chance to separate from the Pac-10, the Big 12 and the Big Picture.
"Kansas, UCLA and North Carolina have all won it before," Memphis sophomore forward Pierre Niles said. "This would be our first. We come from a small city that doesn't make it to the Final Four much."
A win over Kansas in tonight's national title game at the Alamodome and the Tigers of Memphis would have to be mentioned alongside the Hoosiers of Indiana.
Wouldn't they?
Memphis would end the season 39-1. The Tigers have already set the single-season record for wins and seek to become the seventh one-loss school to win the NCAA title and the first since North Carolina State in 1974.
Memphis would have ended up a four-point loss to No. 2 Tennessee on Feb. 23 from finishing 40-0.
There have been only seven unbeaten NCAA champions, the last in 1976, when Indiana finished 32-0.
Yet, somehow, Memphis seems to have sneaked into posterity position.
The Tigers were judged by the company they kept in Conference USA, a league outside the "power" six.
Memphis had to offset the perception in nonconference games by defeating the likes of Oklahoma, Connecticut, Georgetown and Arizona.
Calipari compares Memphis to Jerry Tarkanian's powerhouse teams at Nevada Las Vegas.
"They won championships," Calipari said. "Also did it in a league like ours."
Tennessee's win, actually, took some of the build-up pressure off.
"Going undefeated is very hard," sophomore guard Willie Kemp said. "Indiana was the last team to do it and they were a great team. We are a great team, but this was never about going undefeated. We wanted to get a national championship."
Memphis' Saturday win over UCLA, 78-63, moved the Tigers one giant leap closer.
Reports that this was an unstructured, undisciplined rag-tag team were obviously unfounded.
UCLA guard Darren Collision found out against Memphis guard Derrick Rose and Ben Howland found out against Calipari.
