John Calipari: The new Guy V. Lewis?

This is the funny thing about the national title game. I can think of about 15 reasons why Memphis choked it away, but I can't think of but two or three why Kansas won it. Most of the talk afterward centered on how Memphis blew that nine-point lead with 2:12 left, and not how Kansas stole the victory.

Much will be made about free-throw shootings -- and yes, that certainly was a factor. Memphis was 7-of-16 from the line after the first half, missing four of five freebies down the stretch when any one of them might have iced the W. But it goes beyond that.

This goes to coaching. John Calipari had a bad night, folks. Remember Houston in 1983? When that team with Hakeen Olajuwon had no business losing to N.C. State? That was this game all over again, with Calipari playing the role of Guy V. Lewis. His team rushed shots. He play his starters waaaay too many minutes (could this be why they bricked those free throws?) And, mostly damningly, he never called a time-out with 10.8 seconds left after Derrick Rose hit the second of two foul shots.

A good coach would have gathered his players and reminded them to foul Kansas before giving up a three-pointer. This is coaching 101, folks. Put the opponent on the line up three with less than 10.8 seconds to go. Calipari insisted his players knew to foul, and yet replays clearly showed they were running away from the Kansas guards. So Coach Cal was either wrong or he lied. Either way, nobody fouled, and Mario Chalmbers hit the game-tying shot ... maybe the biggest basket in Kansas history.

Calipari built Memphis into a 38-1 team. But he was the reason they failed to clip the nets last night.