Didn't See THAT Coming
In my defense, who did?
40-12. And Billy Packer declaring the game over, with 7:32 left in the first half. All Kansas. UNC made the run that everyone had to know they would to make it a game, but, as is often the case, the energy it took to get back left them to drained to finish it off. Actually, as tight as Kansas was playing (and rightfully so) when the Heels drew within four in the second half, their final push to overcome the worry and put North Carolina away was almost as impressive as the early game blow-out. Completing the collapse looked imminent, and then, Kansas took control again. Damn impressive.
Stewart Mandel at si.com on just that point:
"Despite what both the halftime and final scores indicated, there was in fact a brief span of suspense -- which the Jayhawks promptly eviscerated. The comeback attempt "took so much energy out of us," said Green, that a 13-0 Kansas run beginning with 5:11 left put the final fork in the Heels.
Sherron Collins drained a three from the top of the key. Game-high scorer Brandon Rush (25 points) sliced through the lane only to find there were no defenders there. And in the game's defining, back-breaking moment -- a play that seemed to occur as if in slow-motion -- Rush dribbled to the wing, spotted Jackson sneaking toward the basket and lobbed it to him for a slam to go back up 71-61. "They came back with a run there late," said a visibly devastated Hansbrough. "We kind of went into panic mode after that ... They kept coming down, scoring. That was it."
Indeed.
---From Lawrence and the Journal-World:
"The transition from Roy Williams to Bill Self ended once and for all Saturday night inside the Alamodome, where the team with the better transition game won. Williams no longer should have to hear anything but thank you for 15 years of exceptional service from anybody who bleeds crimson and blue. As for Self, he no longer must be measured against the man who drove that 15-year run. The national semifinal scoreboard screamed the only meaningful measure of Self's five years on the job: Kansas 84, North Carolina 66. Williams, nothing but gracious in defeat, put a period at the end of that sentence he had to serve in the eyes of some KU loyalists for leaving Kansas for his alma mater, and he did so with humble words.
"I apologized to them," Williams said of what he told the players after the loss, "because some way, somehow, I didn't have my team as ready to play as Bill did, and that's not easy to say." Now Self goes onto the national-title game, bringing the program all the way back to where it was when Ol' Roy packed his bags after a loss to Syracuse in New Orleans. With a victory over Memphis on Monday night, Self can bring the program a national title, an accomplishment that eluded Williams until his second season at North Carolina."
Yeah, I guess it is hard to understand from the outside the pressure that has been on Bill Self following Williams' fleeing to Chapel Hill. I would guess that is indeed all gone now. If there was ever an important game for a coach, that was one yesterday for Bill Self. And he sure as hell had his team ready to play.