Congratulations Kansas Jayhawks

March Madness (and April Madness I guess) is now over. The Kansas Jayhawks win over the Memphis Tigers was absolutely amazing. After the games on Saturday, I wasn't sure how close it would be. Memphis looked dominant against UCLA, and Kansas almost blew a 28 point lead against North Carolina. In the end, almost blowing that lead might have helped Kansas, as they were tough down the stretch, coming back from 9 points in regulation to win in overtime. Memphis flinched just enough, and Mario Chalmers hit an amazing shot to save the Jayhawks season.

I remember meeting two girls from Kansas who flew out to watch the Jayhawks play USC in Los Angeles in early December. That kind of fan commitment is rare, although escaping the midwest for Southern California can't really be called a sacrifice. Anyway, I think I was rooting a little bit more for Kansas in this game. John Calipari is a good coach, and I hope he wins the title someday, but Bill Self is also a good coach and he deserved the win. Kansas has always had great fans, and I know it was heart-breaking for them to lose to Syracuse one year, then watch their coach depart and win a championship a few years later. Now they can get on with their lives (we hope).

Overall, it was a good tournament. There was no Syracuse, which sucked, but there was another first-time winner in Coach Self. Over the last ten years, there have been seven new coaches to add their names to the list of champions. In the last 15 years, only three teams have one more than once (UConn, Kentucky, Florida), which says a lot about how great the sport is. Can't wait to do this all again in eight months.