Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Kansas wins national title

The final score from San Antonio:

Kansas - 75
Memphis - 68 (OT)

Congraulations to the Kansas Jayhawks for winning their fourth national title in school history. It was a heck of a game, though.

Of course, for me as an Iowa State fan, this is bittersweet, as Kansas ranks up with the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Cardinals in terms of teams that I may respect, but still cannot like.

I also had trouble with Kansas winning because of Bill Self, who bolted Illinois for the KU job five years ago. Of course, the beauty part of this, if I want to be petty, is that he is the leading contender to become the next coach at his alma mater, Oklahoma State. He of course says he won't leave, but this comment on the Sporting News story about the speculation says it all:

Self also told ORU he wasn't leaving, Tulsa he wasn't leaving, and Illinois wasn't leaving.


Regardless, Iowa State now has this to look forward to: the first national champion to contend with in conference play since, well, the last time Kansas won it in 1988 as a member of the Big Eight Conference.