SAN ANTONIO — A pair of crutches rested nearby as Rodrick Stewart leaned on a locker and eagerly chatted up anyone who meandered his way in the Kansas locker room late Monday night.
He missed the last two games, a rotation player lost for the Jayhawks as a result of an ACL tear in practice Friday night. And ultimately it didn’t matter.
No one could take away — or counter — Kansas’ depth.
The Jayhawks’ 75-68 overtime victory over Memphis on Monday to collect the program’s third NCAA tournament championship was the result of many things, most notably Mario Chalmers joining Michael Jordan, Lorenzo Charles and Keith Smart in a small fraternity of the greatest shot-makers in title game history.
But it was also a testament to the luxury of countless options to do anything. In their six-game tournament run, the Jayhawks (37-3) had four players lead the team in scoring, four collect the most rebounds and four serve up the most assists in a game.
Four players scored in double figures in the title game, and another scored eight points.
“Balance does go a long way,” Stewart observed.
It was the seventh time in nine years an NCAA champ featured five players averaging at least nine points, a decade-long trend hinting at the significance of constructing a deep team of all-around players even as much of the season is spent squabbling over the top two or three stars in the country.
Make no mistake: The Jayhawks possessed an abundance of talent thanks to coach Bill Self’s recruiting prowess , and much of it could migrate to the pros in coming weeks.
Brandon Rush, who flirted with an NBA jump last year before tearing an ACL in May, seems a safe bet to leave. Wiry sophomore forward Darrell Arthur probably made himself quite a bit of coin with his 20-point, 10-rebound performance Monday. Chalmers, arguably the Jayhawks’ best player statistically, could think about leaving a year early.
Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun, Russell Robinson and Stewart were seniors, and their presence made the title a minor salute to one of the sport’s overlooked species: the talented four-year player.
And Self — only a month ago derided for his inability to advance farther than the regional final in his first four years at Kansas — probably will receive a call about the opening at Oklahoma State, his alma mater and a school sure to offer a Brinks truck full of money bags thanks to big-time donor and oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens.
But for a night, any concerns about the future melted away.
“We’re living the life right now,” freshman Cole Aldrich said. “It’s unbelievable.”
These Jayhawks will be remembered in the heartland for snapping a 20-year title drought, a span during which Kansas remained a national power but did not collect the titles fellow bluebloods Duke, North Carolina, UCLA and Kentucky continued to rack up.
Everywhere else, their ecstasy will forever be paired with Memphis’ meltdown, a squandering of a nine-point lead in the final two minutes that ranks among the sport’s colossal collapses.
The Tigers (38-2) met much of their demise at the foul line, where 1-for-5 work from stars Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts in the closing moments ensured Memphis’ one glaring weakness would make a crucial appearance, lending the game the aura of a Greek tragedy.
But there was also Chalmers’ tying shot with 2.1 seconds left in regulation, a heave off a flip from Collins now in the possession of posterity.
“It will probably be the biggest shot ever made in Kansas history,” Self said.
And it could have come from nearly anyone. The Jayhawks demonstrated their depth one last time in overtime, when five players combined for the 12 points needed to close out Memphis.
The 1988 Kansas team is recalled as Danny and the Miracles, a nod to forward Danny Manning nearly single-handedly carrying an unheralded No. 6 seed to a title. This time the Jayhawks — with Manning on the bench as an assistant coach — did it a bit differently.
“There’s no name,” Jackson said. “We’re just a team. We’re just a group of guys who were so balanced.”
Not to mention, national champions.
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