Six games, six tournament memories

Editor's note: We asked each of the six Eagle staffers who covered the 2008 NCAA Tournament to write about their lasting memory of the three-week journey.

Travis Heying

During the course of the tournament, my phone buzzed constantly during the games while family and friends text-messaged with questions and commentaries about how the Jayhawks were playing.

During the championship game, my brother Craig text-messaged from Montana, wanting to know if it was hard not to stand up and cheer when a game was going the way the Memphis game was going. I replied during a timeout that I just had to keep my cool and stay focused.

Though I had no urge to cheer, I was far from relaxed. My heart was pounding and my palms were sweating. I had a feeling it was game that might end on the last possession. Deep breaths.

There's nothing any of us could write that could accurately describe what it was like when Mario Chalmers hit the three-point shot. It was almost like a bomb exploded and the air was sucked right out of the Alamodome. Concentration doesn't come easy when something like that happens.

Reach photographer Travis Heying at 316-268-6468 or theying@wichitaeagle.com.

Bob Lutz

Call me a sap, but I'll always remember the heartbreak I witnessed after Kansas' win over Memphis in the national championship game.

Don't get me wrong _ the win was great for the Jayhawks, their fans, their players, their coaches and especially coach Bill Self. It was an exhilarating time for anybody who witnessed the amazing late-game comeback/overtime/confetti from the rafters/cutting down the nets.

But those poor Memphis Tigers. Can you imagine?

Sure, they have themselves to blame for botching the game at the free-throw line late in regulation and not fouling somebody _ anybody _ before Mario Chalmers' fateful three-pointer sent the game into overtime.

But, I swear, there wasn't a dry Memphis eye in the house when the game ended. The second-guessing hadn't yet begun as the sheer agony of losing a game the Tigers easily could have won was setting in.

As I left the court to go to the interview room following the game, I walked past a bunch of members of the Memphis pep band. They were in disbelief. Some were sobbing. Others were cussing. Still others just sat there _ not moving, not talking, barely breathing.

As the state of Kansas has reveled this week in the glory of a national championship, I can't help but feel the pain of those Memphis fans who had to endure the other side, the painful side, of the incredible national championship game.

KU fans, aren't you glad you're not them?

Reach columnist Bob Lutz at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com.

Jeffrey Martin

It's impossible to know what's going through an athlete's mind, especially if the athlete is never asked.

But as Kansas senior guard Russell Robinson was being whisked away in the back of a golf cart late Monday night, moments after the Jayhawks' thrilling overtime victory against Memphis, I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking.

His pose brought to mind Rodin's sculpture, "The Thinker," but this wasn't bronze and marble. He was flesh and blood, and he'd probably just experienced the greatest moment of his life -- yet his body language suggested he'd come out on the losing end.

Was he concerned this was the end of his basketball career?

Was he bummed he didn't play a larger role in the victory?

Or was it something else?

I had to impulse to ask, to catch up with him and pepper him with questions. But I didn't. In a sense, this gave me some sense of closure -- it allowed me to see Robinson as more than just the heart-and-soul, indispensable backcourt general he was on the court for the Jayhawks. It added another dimension, the lasting image of what I'll think of when his name is mentioned.

Russell Robinson, the thinker.

Reach reporter Jeffrey Martin at 316-269-6763 or jmartin@wichitaeagle.com.

Scott Paske

When Kansas and Kansas State have occupied the same gymnasium through the years, there have been live chickens tossed on the court. Derogatory chants at coaches. Hot dogs thrown at a Wildcat and bananas hurled at a Jayhawk.

So when there's a moment of civility between the schools, you take notice.

It was quite a scene to process on March 22 at Qwest Center Omaha, when K-State All-American Michael Beasley left a college court for perhaps the final time near the end of the Wildcats' 72-55 loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament's second round. With the Jayhawks on deck, waiting to play UNLV, many KU fans in a section behind the K-State bench rose to their feet and joined in the standing ovation for Beasley, the Wildcats' fabulous freshman.

There was plenty of speculation after Selection Sunday about whether both teams' fan bases would play nice in Nebraska. You didn't see many fans in purple doing the Rock Chalk chant or fans in crimson and blue dancing to the "Wabash Cannonball." Face it, that would be weird.

But while most KU supporters probably relish the day Beasley accepts the NBA's riches, those in Section 122 took a moment to acknowledge greatness.

Strange, but cool.

Reach reporter Scott Paske at 316-268-6513 or spaske@wichitaeagle.com.

Rick Plumlee

Long days, short nights. But you don't want to hear about that. This was the 25th NCAA Tournament and seventh Final Four I've covered, and never have I seen such a contrast in emotions. Relief for Cindy Self, continued sub-human behavior by some KU fans in response to Roy Williams.

Even beyond the play of Stephen Curry and Derrick Rose and the shot by Mario Chalmers, the most remarkable sight was Bill Self giving his wife, Cindy, a monster hug after beating Davidson to finally move past the Elite Eight. It's a hug she needed in more way than one. Just a guess, but I think she felt more relief than her husband. And it was a whole lot more than the former Okie State cheerleader side of her coming out.

On the downside are the KU fans who just can't seem to get a life when it comes to Williams. The worst of the lot are those who hypocritically think Williams should now be "forgiven" just because KU defeated North Carolina. Forget that he had nothing to apologize for in the first place, how in the world does his "favorite team" losing to his "second-favorite team" fit into the equation?

Reach KU beat writer Rick Plumlee at 316-268-6278.

Jeff Tuttle

When I think back on this tournament, I will be reminded of two shots -- the one that went in and the shot that didn't.

The one that didn't was by Davidson's Jason Reynolds, who would've beaten Kansas at the buzzer of the Midwest Regional championship game. Why Stephen Curry did not take the last shot is still a mystery to me.

The other is Mario Chalmers' shot to send the Memphis game into overtime. That shot will be replayed forever.

Kansas had the easiest bracket and the national media and fans gave them no chance in the Final Four, but they were wrong. I have covered this team for three seasons and they are a tight-knit team, playing well together in a blue-collar way.

They had the best defense in the country and they smacked North Carolina in the mouth. I hope fans can now add Roy Williams to their storied basketball history.

Reach photographer Jeff Tuttle at 316-268-6468 or jtuttle@wichitaeagle.com.