University Of Memphis

Memphis Coach John Calipari seems to have a theme for his pep talks this week: Disrespect. Hmmm. Wasn't that the theme last week too? The Tigers (37-1) play UCLA (35-3) Saturday in the first of the NCAA national semifinals in San Antonio, and Calipari said Monday he has noticed Memphis flaws have been overplayed and over-hyped -- especially the idea that his players are bad free-throw shooters. This season, the Tigers have shot 60.

Kevin Love grew up preparing to be a star. "As a kid, even 10, 11 years old, Kevin was the pied piper," said his father, Stan. "It's his personality. People just follow Kevin." The 19-year-old UCLA freshman center, already Pacific 10 Conference player of the year and first-team All-American, has also become a plain-speaking locker room leader unafraid to criticize veteran teammates for fouling out (Darren Collison) or not passing enough (Josh Shipp).

SAN ANTONIO -- For the record, Darren Collison is ready to experience "One Shining Moment," but otherwise doesn't want to hear it. The song has become something of an anthem to CBS' television coverage of the Final Four, and UCLA players got a chance to preview the video that goes along with it. "That gave me chills," freshman Kevin Love said. It gave Collison a burn. "The video itself was cool.

SAN ANTONIO -- Kansas guard Rodrick Stewart can't play in the NCAA title game tonight after breaking a kneecap during the team's public shoot-around Friday, but he will be on the bench in his warmups. "You prepare your whole life for this situation," the transfer from USC said. "It was tough yesterday. Right with about one minute left in the game, I wanted to be on the court for just one second. "The fans started chanting my name, wanting me out there.

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.

SAN ANTONIO -- Players and coaches at the Final Four wear white hats and black hats. They are painted in broad brush strokes. Kansas wears the white hat in tonight's NCAA title game, and Memphis wears the black. Never mind that Kansas recruited Memphis stars Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose too. Or that Kansas guard Brandon Rush went to a prep school in North Carolina, just like a handful of Memphis players. "I feel people judge us, and don't really know us," Douglas-Roberts said.

SAN ANTONIO -- The game was over, Memphis had won on a Monday, freshman Derrick Rose was going to be the star and Coach John Calipari was finally going to get his due. Cue the confetti and the CBS theme music. But then it wasn't over. In what will be remembered in Kansas lore as Mario's moon shot, Jayhawks junior guard Mario Chalmers landed a three-point basket with 2.1 seconds left to send a great NCAA championship game into overtime. "I knew it was going in when it left my hand," he said.

SAN ANTONIO -- The shot was off-balance, but Mario Chalmers' aim was true. Rock, shock, Jayhawk. It wasn't over, but it might as well have been. Chalmers' desperate three-point basket with 2.1 seconds left in regulation forced Memphis to overtime Monday, and a Kansas team that outlasted some of the best this NCAA tournament had to offer won the national title, 75-68. "It'll probably be the biggest shot ever made in Kansas history," Coach Bill Self said.

SAN ANTONIO -- That's the thing about one shining moment. Somewhere else, there is darkness. Somewhere else, there is chill. After one shining moment carried Kansas to a breathless national championship that will live forever, somewhere else kids were crying. Somewhere else, kids were biting the bottoms of their jerseys, hiding their heads in their towels, throwing punches through the confetti. One shining moment gave Kansas a 75-68 overtime victory in the national title game Monday night.

Baskerville Holmes, who got his name from a Sherlock Holmes story and played for Memphis in the 1985 Final Four, was found shot to death with his girlfriend in an apparent murder-suicide, police said. A television station reported that Holmes called police and said he accidentally shot his girlfriend, then shot himself a few minutes later. Police would not confirm that report. Holmes, 32, and Tanya Franklin were dead when police arrived at their home Tuesday morning. Lt.