Factoid I just stumbled across relating to our championship game

[Bayside44]

Wasn’t that a charge, no basket, call? So being out of bounds would have been even better than what happened.

Charge, basket counted I believe.

 

[Charbroil]

Is that why he ran away from the ball when Kansas was in foul mode.

Good question. Perhaps. Although I think as much as anything it was just Freshman having trouble closing out a game on the biggest stage. Fortunately it didn’t come back to haunt them.

 

[CusefanATL]

Wasn’t that a charge, no basket, call? So being out of bounds would have been even better than what happened.

was a charge and a basket counted

 

[SBU72]

Also, Melo's back was messed up and GMac got hurt during the game (his hand I believe). We weren't exactly playing 100% either.

During the game the big name TV announcer kept saying how GMac was running away from the ball during the last 2 minutes instead of to the ball to get fouled and take the FT. As a 90% ft shooter he should have wanted the shot. Blamed it on freshman mistake. The guy never realized the GMacs hand was sore from the spill he took. His shooting was off for the rest of the game after that and it looked like he didn't feel he could make ft's.

 

[two3zone]

During the game the big name TV announcer kept saying how GMac was running away from the ball during the last 2 minutes instead of to the ball to get fouled and take the FT. As a 90% ft shooter he should have wanted the shot. Blamed it on freshman mistake. The guy never realized the GMacs hand was sore from the spill he took. His shooting was off for the rest of the game after that and it looked like he didn't feel he could make ft's.

One hell of a decoy.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I somehow never realized how poorly Kansas shot from 3 and from the free throw line in our championship game.

They went 4-20 from 3 (.200) and 12-30 (.400!) from the line. Yikes!! I remember they had a bad shooting night but that was God-awful. They actually missed 18 free throws. Thank goodness for Hak who made sure they didn’t go 5-21!

The bad free throw percentage doesn’t tell the entire story. On many of their misses they got the ball back and scored

 

[M2MPrinciples]

I know Kansas fans who have long lamented the poor FT performance, trust me it's not lost on them. And I believe Kansas was favored despite Simien being out, and Graves had a career game in his absence. He had developed a rep as a headcase as a JC transfer who struggled to pick up the nuances of the game and struggled with foul trouble but he gave us all sorts of problems. He had to have been around 260 pounds but was only 6'8" or so, like a more muscular DJ Burns but without any of his touch or feel. That type of player has largely been phased out of today's game.

Something I remember that hasn't been mentioned here is that Langford's fifth foul was very questionable. Edelin lost control on a drive and fell into Langford and the ref who called the foul was behind the play. Another moment that swinged the game.

 

[mark79]

The bad free throw percentage doesn’t tell the entire story. On many of their misses they got the ball back and scored

Agreed. I wasn’t trying to tell a story or denigrate our win in any way, as I understand there are a myriad of what-if’s in every win and loss as others have already pointed out. Their shooting percentages just flat out shocked me is all. Especially the free throws. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team miss that many unless I was watching a rerun of an old Shaq or Wilt game lol.