Run, don't walk, for Rock, Chalk, Jayhawks Monday

SAN ANTONIO -- This is the way God and Dr. Naismith intended the game to be played.

Roll out the ball and let's run one. That's an oversimplification of Monday's national championship game, but sometimes the game needs to be simplified.

Look at James Naismith's original 13 rules of the game and it's easy to see that he was the original fast-break coach. Phog Allen then came along at Kansas and started adding plays, strategy and intricacy. Next thing you knew, we had the Princeton offense.

Bill Self is coaching smart. In other words, he's not getting in his players' way. (Getty Images)

"It's like Princeton on steroids," Memphis' John Calipari said, describing his dribble drive motion offense picked up from a California juco coach.

If that sounds renegade then wait until Monday night. Kansas proved it belonged at this level by running North Carolina off the floor at times in one semifinal. Ben Howland's antiquated walk-it-up scheme was exposed against Memphis for one simple reason. Memphis has better, more skilled athletes than UCLA.

Take that, Phog.

"It's going to be fun for both teams," said Memphis' Chris Douglas-Roberts, looking out on a sea of reporters Sunday at the Alamodome, "because we both like pushing the ball. We don't want to slow the ball down. We feel that the half court game is boring. And I know that you guys do too."

Show of hands? Good, then we all agree on this. This championship game could be one of the most aesthetically pleasing in history.

The teams are 1-2 nationally in scoring margin. Both are among the top 14 in scoring. They are separated by less than half a point (18 total for the season) in scoring average: Kansas, 80.666, Memphis, 80.205.

On the defense, they are both rated in the top 10. That leads to the obvious conclusion that these teams want to do the same thing.

"You don't come down the court, stop, and decide, 'OK, now I'm going to run and play this and that ... If you get the ball anywhere on the court, you don't retreat. You attack."

Those aren't the words of Bill Self or Calipari. They are from John McClendon, a former Naismith P.E. student at Kansas who went on to become a hall of fame coach.

McClendon died in 1999 but not without a sizable legacy. In a game filled with self-important, know-it-all coaches, Calipari and Bill Self are going to let the kids decide it.