The two #1 seeds showed off their NBA caliber athletes but in the end it was Kansas who came away with the 2008 NCAA men‘s basketball national championship with a 73-68 win. The game lived up to expectations staying closely contested throughout, but it was Kansas who made the key shots when the pressure was on. Kansas was a +2 point betting underdog  at sportsbetting.com with the TOTAL OVER\UNDERat 138 points.

Memphis jumped out to an early lead but Kansas came storming back with excellent play from their big men who outscored Memphis 24-8 inside the pain in the first half. Kansas showed off their versatility being able to score in a variety of different ways while Memphis was primarily relying on their outside shooting to generate offense. Both teams were somewhat sloppy in their ball handling with many points coming off of turnovers from both squads. Kansas closed the first half on a strong note with a 5-0 run to give them a 33-28 halftime lead. The deficit at halftime was the first time that the Memphis Tigers had trailed in the entire tournament.

It didn’t take long for Memphis to come back as they drew first blood in the second half with a Richard Dozier slam dunk as they worked Kansas over with heavy dose of Chris Douglass Roberts (22 points) and Derrick Rose (18 points). Memphis had Kansas on the ropes with 56-49 lead with 3:47 left but Kansas showed their mettle and Mario Chalmers was the star that shined brightest. A spell of errant free-throws by Memphis late in the ball game proved to be their undoing as Kansas worked their way back into the game. With 10.7 seconds left Memphis held the keys to the title with a three point lead but Kansas’s Mario Chalmers hit an unbelievable game saving three point fade away with two defenders in his face, with 2.1 seconds on the clock to send the game into OT.

The momentum was all Kansas in OT as they took advantage of a Memphis team without inside prescience Troy Dorsey who fouled out lat in regulation. Chris Douglass-Roberts kept Memphis in the game with a crucial 3 point shot with :59 seconds left in OT but it would not be enough against Kansas’s stifling defense that shut down Memphis in the final minute. The Kansas Jayhawks ended the game dribbling the seconds off the clock to win their 3rd NCAA men’s basketball championship 73-68 to cover the pointspread by +7 points Sportsbetting.com as +2 point underdogs.

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