Memphis came seconds away from reaching its ultimate goal for the 2007-08 season.

"Ten seconds to go, we're thinking we're national champs, all of a sudden a kid makes a shot, and we're not," Memphis coach John Calipari said after his team suffered a 75-68 overtime loss to Kansas in the NCAA Tournament championship game. "It will probably hit me like a ton of bricks tomorrow, that we had it in our grasp."

After winning 38 games, losing only one in the regular season and spending five weeks at No. 1, Memphis made an impressive run through the NCAA Tournament that included wins over Michigan State, Texas and UCLA.

In the championship game, the Tigers appeared to have everything under control when they took a 60-51 lead with 2:12 left in regulation. The Jayhawks spent the final two minutes chipping away while the Tigers blew several opportunities to put the game away.

At that point, two of Memphis' season-long struggles returned after the Tigers seemed past them in the NCAA Tournament. First, senior center Joey Dorsey fouled out with 1:23 left after having played with more discipline and purpose during the tournament.

"When I got my fifth foul I was like, 'Oh my God,'" Dorsey said. "I felt like I was letting my teammates down again. And I was hoping it wouldn't go to overtime."

Then guards Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose combined to miss four of five free throws in the final 1:15 after scoring so effectively from the free-throw line throughout the postseason.

"Yeah, it came back and bit us," Douglas-Roberts said. "We missed them at a crucial time."

Rose was correct when he said, "It wasn't really the free throws. If we'd done things before the free throws, we would've been in good shape." At the same time, any one of those free throws would have forced Kansas to score twice in the final seconds of regulation. Instead, after Rose put the Tigers ahead 63-60 by making one of two free throws with 10 seconds left, the Jayhawks got one last chance.

The Tigers intended to foul Kansas guard Sherron Collins as he raced downcourt and Rose believed he had done that, but the officials -- as they had done most of the game -- allowed the players to decide the outcome. Collins passed to Mario Chalmers, who sank a contested 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds to send the game into overtime.

The Jayhawks' comeback seemed to take the air out of the Tigers. When Kansas threw the first punches in overtime, Memphis never responded and failed to give itself a chance in overtime.

"They did everything they were supposed to do to put us in a position to win a national title," Calipari said of his players. "What happened out there is not on one person, it's on all of us including me. You have the kind of lead we had, you're supposed to win the game."

Instead of celebrating the program's first national championship, the Tigers will have to move forward toward an uncertain future. The Tigers hit a home run when top prep Tyreke Evans announced his intentions to attend Memphis at his April 16 Signing Day press conference.

But Calipari knows he is losing Dorsey, backup point guard Andre Allen and Rose, but he also anticipates losing Douglas-Roberts.

Douglas-Roberts, a first-team All-American and the C-USA player of the year, was regarded as a likely candidate to go pro throughout the season. A strong performance in the postseason and a realistic opportunity to be selected in the first round could convince the junior it's time to move on.

Rose came to Memphis as one of the nation's top prospects and Calipari knew Rose might be gone after one season. Rose's impressive run throughout the NCAA Tournament led to speculation among NBA Draft analysts that he might have moved ahead of Kansas State freshman Michael Beasley in the battle to be the overall No. 1 pick in the draft. Either way, Rose couldn't resist the tug and his game indicates he might be ready for the big leagues.

Two other junior starters, guard Antonio Anderson and forward Robert Dozier, are expected to return for their senior seasons. The same is true for the remainder of the roster, but players such as Anderson, Dozier, sophomore center Shawn Taggart, sophomore guards Willie Kemp and Doneal Mack and freshman wing Jeff Robinson all have growing to do as the Tigers' search for new go-to players to replace Rose and Douglas-Roberts. The tough, physical presence Dorsey provided won't be easily replaced either.

Calipari has already secured three prospects -- superstar guard Evans, rangy 6-8, 215-pound forward Matt Simpkins and 6-10, 210-pound Angel Garcia. Both add length, athleticism and ball skills to the Tigers' interior game but neither appears ready to make a big impact on the defensive end and the boards.

If Calipari can convince Devin Ebanks, a 6-8, 185-pound small forward from Oakdale, Conn., to join the Tigers, Memphis might be fully loaded next season when many expected a dropoff.

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