Final thoughts on the NCAA tournament

1. Memphis blew it the way Herb Albert blew it. How can you be leading the national title game by nine points with 2 minutes 12 seconds left and not win?

This game will haunt Tigers Coach John Calipari for years. He did not, um, manage the last seconds well. Up by three, you don't try to foul Kansas guard Sherron Collins coming down the court. You foul him. Period. End of story. That way you're almost assured of getting possession back with the lead.

2. UCLA advanced as far as it should have advanced. The Bruins relied too much on two scorers, Kevin Love and Darren Collison, to win and found that out when they faced long and lanky Memphis.

A loss in a national semifinal also prevented the taint factor after UCLA beat Texas A&M by two points in the second round even though photos clearly showed Josh Shipp fouling Donald Sloan in the final seconds.

No need, Aggies fans, to superimpose that picture on a water tower in College Station. UCLA didn't win the title and you weren't going to either.

3. Davidson was a nice story but, in the end, the big guys won. What a shock.

No. 16-seeded teams are now 0-96 in the first round. But let's expand the tournament?

Every now and then a George Mason sneaks in, but there's a good reason the better programs are better. Kansas, UCLA and North Carolina ended up 14-2 in this year's tournament.

Notable exceptions this year: Duke and Kentucky, who basically took this year off.

4. NCAA basketball purists hate comparisons to Bowl Championship Series football, which refuses to consider a playoff. But basketball is becoming more like football every year. Just look at these Final Four sites:

San Antonio may never host another because the Alamodome isn't big enough. Monday night's crowd was "only" 43,257. The NCAA is looking for 60,000 as a baseline, which is the reason next year's Final Four is at Ford Field in Detroit and the future is in places like Glendale, Ariz.

5. Three players who will be most remembered in the 2008 tournament:

* Mario Chalmers, of course. He made the shot for Kansas.

* Memphis' Derrick Rose. Never mind that Chris Douglas-Roberts, his backcourt mate, was a first-team All-American. Rose, a 6-foot-3 freshman point guard, showed in the second half of Monday night's loss to Kansas why he will be a lottery pick and thrill NBA audiences for years.

* Stephen Curry, Davidson. He represents what the tournament is about -- that sliver of a prayer.

Forty points against Gonzaga? Thirty vs. Georgetown? Thirty-three more against Wisconsin? Yeah, maybe he can play.

Lingering mystery: Why Curry didn't take the final shot against Kansas.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com