Last night in winning the national title game, the University of Kansas played great defense late. That defense, however, was not allowed to block a shot, steal the ball or force Memphis into a bad shot. All the Jayhawks could do late in regulation was foul and hope for rebounds.

In retrospect, it was one of the most impressive displays of defense the Final Four has ever wandered across. The more Kansas fouled the more free throws Memphis missed. Ping. Ping. Clang. And as the Tigers began to miss free throws, the casual basketball fan finally figured out why a team that’s trailing late in a game will foul until a comeback is literally impossible.

It can be hard to believe, but fouling without fail actually can win a team a game of basketball. It’s like how a hockey team trailing by a goal often pulls their goaltender for the last minute of regulation, or the hail Mary pass in football. These things almost never work, and just as often go in the opposite direction. If those free throws go in, a close basketball game becomes a blowout. Hockey teams that pull their goalie often get a free “garbage goal” scored on them in the waning seconds of the game. Those hail Mary passes are so often not just knocked to the ground, but knocked to the ground by a crowd of defenders. The point is that these desperation attempts to tie games rely often on luck as well as the talent of the team executing the play. That isn’t to say, however, that Kansas got lucky on Monday night.

Once Memphis’ free throws bounced off the rim, it was up to Kansas’ front court to get the rebound and find someone smaller that can take a three point shot. For the first 19 minutes of the game, the Jayhawks had only made two from behind the arc. So naturally, to start this process Kansas once again fouled the Tigers.

Not only did Memphis miss free throws, they missed Joey Dorsey. The big presence inside for the Tigers fouled out with minutes to go in regulation, leaving Memphis short their most effective rebounder. The three-headed monster of Dorsey, Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts was suddenly short a head.

Kansas tied the game with seconds to go on Mario Chalmers’ memorable three point shot to force overtime. No amount of luck, no amount of missed free throws or missing opposing stars, was going to get that shot in the basket. Chalmers needed to get the ball, avoid a foul by Memphis that would have won the Tigers the game, and boy were they ever trying to get that foul off before Chalmers took his shot. (Coach Calipari of the Tigers seemed to claim after the game that he thought they managed to foul Kansas away from the ball, but also admitted that it would have been a very tough call for the official to make.)

That shot is nearly in Christian Laettner territory in terms of the magnitude, degree of difficulty and the shockwave it sent to everyone watching. Mario Chalmers’ three point shot took an excellent championship game and made it entirely more memorable.

The overtime period was all Kansas. Without Dorsey, the Tigers didn’t have their inside presence to rebound and combat Kansas on the boards, and KU immediately took advantage and got out to a big lead early in the short period. Of course, that made it Memphis’ turn to start fouling. The difference, however, was that Kansas made their free throws consistently, especially late in the game.

By no means am I claiming Memphis “choked” or somehow blew this game. Sure, they could have made their free throws and they would have won. But Memphis was up by nine with less than three minutes to go. They played well enough to earn this contest. Super frosh Derrick Rose put up a more-than-respectable 18 points in the effort and led the team like he was an upperclassman. So while there is one tangible moment where the Tigers could have polished the game off, this was a contest that Kansas won more than Memphis lost.

Clichés are clichéd for a reason. All tournament people were down on Memphis for two reasons: their in-conference schedule (which they couldn’t control and was more an excuse for not picking Memphis than anything else) and their free throw shooting (which they could control and wound up doing them in at the end). It’s a near certainty that the national champion needs to make free throws at a stellar rate, particularly late in games. For all the defense that impacts a basketball game, the most important moments seem to come when the defense is relegated to standing outside the paint, and the only external factor that impacts your shot is the audience.

Winning teams also need to rebound to win. Inside presence makes all the difference in basketball, where control of the boards can mean control of the shot clock, the pace and the score of a game. Memphis’ inside game was solid all year with Joey Dorsey and Chris Douglas-Roberts, but for the seven minutes or so of basketball that the Tigers were without Dorsey on Monday night turned out to be the difference between night and day. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks were controlling the inside with Sasha Kaun and Brandon Rush grabbing big rebounds in overtime.

The cliché that doesn’t apply though was most often placed on Kansas; the insistence that sports history, especially recent sports history, will repeat itself ad nauseum. Kansas had been a #1 seed in the tournament before, and many times they had fallen short in the NCAAs. Every year it became harder and harder to pick Kansas in a bracket situation, no matter how good they had become. Oh how blind we become. So we made excuses. Justifications. Reasons Kansas would fall short this time like so many others.

In the meanwhile, Kansas just made baskets, rebounds and smart fouls. Bill Self made all the right coaching decisions. The players made the right calls on when to take a shot and when to pass.

Oh, and then they made one of the most unlikely three point shots you’ll ever see. Danny and the Miracles? Meet Miracle Mario.

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Tim Williams is a columnist covering college sports for MCN Sports. E-mail Tim at TWilliams@mcn.tv