Memphis coach John Calipari had told his team's fans to "Expect good things to happen," and they did. Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose knew their Tigers had the chance to snatch the NCAA crown away from Kansas, and for a while it looked like they would. Instead, the Commercial Appeal finds itself writing an elegy to a team that could have.
The team had all the elements of a heady victory: flashy shots by Rose, swishing free throws, a nine-point lead. Then came the last 75 seconds, which saw Rose and Douglas-Roberts brick four shots from the line. And then came Mario Chalmers's game-tying three-pointer, when he should already have been fouled by the Tigers. "We should have won," said Calipari. (More 2008 NCAA Tournament stories.)