2008 NCAA Tournament
San Antonio — The Rock Chalk chant started with 1:36 remaining, signifying Kansas University's place on the doorstep of a national championship.
KU's men's basketball team beat North Carolina, 84-66, Saturday in a high-energy Final Four showdown, propelling the Jayhawks into Monday's national championship game.
Kansas will play Memphis, another aggressive team that beat UCLA, 78-63, in equally impressive fashion earlier Saturday.
KU's victory in the nightcap demonstrated an almost surreal showing of high and low tides. Kansas led, 40-12, after a furious first-half run, only to see North Carolina storm back and cut KU's lead to four at 54-50 midway through the second half.
Eventually, KU righted the ship and finished on a 30-16 run to secure the victory, led by the 25-point, seven-rebound effort of Brandon Rush.
By the end of the night, the Jayhawks' famous chant was swirling in the Alamodome, as Kansas improved to 36-3 on the season. High-fives and bear hugs lingered in the KU quadrant long after the game had ended.
The Jayhawks will play in the national championship game for the first time since 2003, and will go for their first title since 1988. Tipoff on Monday is set for 8:21 p.m.
Memphis, now 38-1 on the season, is looking for its first national championship with perhaps its best team in school history.
"It's going to be a great matchup," KU sophomore Sherron Collins said.
With everything on the line.
Audio Clips
2007-08 April 5 KU-UNC Postgame
- Bill Self speaks with the media after advancing to his first NCAA title game
- Brandon Rush talks about his performance, which included a game-high 25 points
- Cole Aldrich talks about the most valuable minutes he's played yet in his collegiate career
- Darrell Arthur talks about defending Tyler Hansbrough and Cole Aldrich's valuable minutes
- Jeremy Case talks about his spirits after getting to his first NCAA title game
- Mario Chalmers talks about getting the best of North Carolina's guard set
- Rodrick Stewart talks about his emotions getting the best of him at the end of Saturday's game
- Sasha Kaun talks about stopping Tyler Hansbrough and the help the frontcourt got from Cole Aldrich
- Sherron Collins talks about KU winning at the pace it considers its own
Final Four
- Jayhawk fans: Read their stories and check out our fan photos »
- Extra! Extra! Write the championship headline (04-05-08)
- Send us your videos and photos!
Kansas-UNC
- KU cools heels (04-06-08)
- Heels run out of gas (04-06-08)
- Aldrich still awestruck after gem (04-06-08)
- 'Oh my God, this is awesome' (04-06-08)
- Police stay busy on game night (04-06-08)
- Keegan: Victory completes transition (04-06-08)
- Kansas basketball notebook (04-06-08)
- Extra Minutes: Kansas 84, North Carolina 66 (04-06-08)
- Commentary: Why KU fans didn't forgive Roy (04-06-08)
- Box Score
- National Semifinals/Finals Times & Results
- Finals Bracket
- 2007-08 Roster
- Complete Tourney coverage
Comments
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maxcrabb (anonymous) says…
Awesome.