Storming The Floor previews today's NCAA Championship Game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Memphis Tigers.

Whether you loved this all-top-seeded Final Four or hated it, you have Larry Brown to thank. The king of the basketball gypsies played his college ball at North Carolina and went to the Final Four with UCLA in 1980. He also coached at Kansas, taking them to their most recent Championship in 1988 before bolting for the Clippers.

So what's his connection to Memphis? Brown mentored John Calipari, taking him on as an assistant at Kansas in the late 80's. But wait, that's not all! He did the same with Bill Self, at around the same time. Cal went out on his own in 1985, the same year Self was hired. That Brown guy has quite an eye for coaching talent, eh?

Looking at the programs, they seem very different. The University of Kansas was founded in 1865, and still had cows roaming the campus around the time James Naismith assembled the first-ever Jayhawk team in 1899. Naismith, who had a losing record at Kansas, begat Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, a man who provided nearly 50 years of stability and helped forge the reliable foundation that has led to legendary status for coach and program alike.

Memphis has been an urban campus all along, fielding their first squad in 1920. Under the name Memphis State, coach Gene Bartow and player Larry Finch took the 1973 Tigers to the Championship game, where they became one in a long line of victims of UCLA's dominance of the era. Bartow went on to succeed John Wooden at UCLA two years later, and the Memphis State/University of Memphis program continued to be very, very good, if not yet great. The Pyramid helped recruiting fortunes, but it was the hiring of former UMass coach Calipari in 2000 that signaled the beginning of the current rise of the program.

As it stands right now, however, this is a matchup of two blue-chip squads, each of them hungry to finish dominant seasons with the ultimate - an NCAA championship.

Memphis relies heavily on two superstars. Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose are clearly the top scoring options in the innovative Dribble-Drive Motion offense. For Kansas, Brandon Rush is the most talented player on the floor, but when he goes through a scoring drought (which has happened often in this tournament), he has three more guys averaging double figures to back him up. The emergence of freshman big man Cole Aldrich in the UNC game gives Bill Self another big body to throw in the mix.

I'll be accused of being a homer, but the tale of the tape is all I have to go with right now.

Storming the Floor's Predicted NCAA Champion: KANSAS

3:00 PM on Mon Apr 7 2008
By storming the floor
3,355 views
45 comments

Comments

MattinglysSideburns at 03:06 PM on 04/07/08
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Connectedness Index: 124

"Hey Bill, can you believe I'm wearing this shit? Who am I? Ma$e?"
Jews For Purple Jesus at 03:07 PM on 04/07/08
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Bill is enjoying what is known at ESPN as the Woody Paige Treatment
Steve518 at 03:07 PM on 04/07/08
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Cal: See? I told you keeping your fly unzipped was the right idea.
Self: Tee-heeheee!!!
StevePerryPsychOut at 03:08 PM on 04/07/08
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They're apparently seeing a nicer view of Microphone Lady than we are...
Little Lebowski Urban... at 03:09 PM on 04/07/08
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"Did you hear how much Boone is gonna give me? That old fart is cray-zee"
HebrewHammer at 03:09 PM on 04/07/08
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"I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable."
Chamomiles Davis at 03:10 PM on 04/07/08
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UCLA's out of the tournament, which means I'm out $540. Translation: I no longer care.
Doyle McPoyle at 03:10 PM on 04/07/08
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@MattinglysSideburns: Can't stop 'till he see his name on the blimp?
tater at 03:12 PM on 04/07/08
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Storming with Larry Brown I think you could find any program he's dealt with. He's the Kevin Bacon of college and pro basketball.
ghostsoftheSCupcountry at 03:12 PM on 04/07/08
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Did Memphis make the Final Four in 1985 or thereabouts? Or was that the drugs talking?
OchentaYcinco at 03:13 PM on 04/07/08
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Brad Lidge is already giving me a heart attack.
ArkansasFred at 03:15 PM on 04/07/08
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John Chaney should choke Calipari for wearing that awful velor jumpsuit.
BigTenObsession at 03:15 PM on 04/07/08
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I have 2 reasons to root for Kansas tonight:

(1) John Calipari is wearing a velvet tracksuit, but his name is not Big Pussy

(2) Memphis State fucking cheated against Purdue, and we all know it. THEY GRABBED HAIRSTON'S JERSEY TO PREVENT THE REBOUND, DAMMIT!
Lady Andrea at 03:16 PM on 04/07/08
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@OchentaYcinco: poor, poor Brad Lidge...it hit the train tracks and bounced around...bwahahaha.
tater at 03:17 PM on 04/07/08
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@OchentaYcinco:
Although Burrell helped out my fantasy team today. If he didn't have herpes I'd kiss him.
Pittsburgh Sports and... at 03:17 PM on 04/07/08
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What does the Dallas's Super Bowl XXX MVP, or this blogger [larrybrownsports.com] have to do with the NCAA Tourney?
The Secret Weapon at 03:20 PM on 04/07/08
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@OchentaYcinco: As a Cole Hamels owner, Brad Lidge is already giving me a heart attack as well.
Carlton_Whitfield at 03:20 PM on 04/07/08
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I'll be in Lawrence tonight to watch the game and, hopefully, participate in the celebration. Either way, the odds of going to work tomorrow seem slim.
/dick joke
crazyjoedavola at 03:20 PM on 04/07/08
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@OchentaYcinco: Good luck with that. Flyball pitcher/closer in a ballpark with little league dimensions.
UpstateUnderdog at 03:21 PM on 04/07/08
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My reason for rooting against Kansas tonight, not covering the 6pt second half spread last Sunday against Davidson.
OchentaYcinco at 03:22 PM on 04/07/08
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@Lady Andrea: Yeah, well, um... Scott Rolen sucks. Nyah nyah.

@tater: He's tearing the cover off the ball. Which means a 1 for 33 is right around the corner.
crazyjoedavola at 03:22 PM on 04/07/08
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@crazyjoedavola: But at least he has the most supportive fan base in the major leagues.

Wagers on the datewhen the fans chase him out of town Ed Whitson style?
OchentaYcinco at 03:24 PM on 04/07/08
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And while I'm at it...

Hey So Taguchi. You're in the game in the 9th as a defensive replacement. So (see what I did there?) catch the damn last out of the game when it's hit to you. Lidge will eventually wet himself with or without you.
Wolf Blitzer at 03:24 PM on 04/07/08
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"Jim, it really is a free-for-all out there. Kids running up and down the court, there is just no semblance of any organized offense. None whatosever, both teams way too quick to shoot- Jim, it makes you wonder how much better this championship game would be if you had a Kevin Love or a Hansbrough out there."
OchentaYcinco at 03:29 PM on 04/07/08
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Photo Caption:

"You're shmoopie!"

"No you're shmoopie!"
Lady Andrea at 03:30 PM on 04/07/08
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@OchentaYcinco: that'll teach me.
PeteJayhawk at 03:30 PM on 04/07/08
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@Carlton_Whitfield: Mass St. was absolutely insane on Saturday. We watched the game at a friend's house off Clinton Pkwy and drove downtown...I was pretty drunk. As proof, here are the two pictures I took:
roland_t_flakfizer at 03:30 PM on 04/07/08
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I hear Larry Brown wants to coach at both Memphis and Kansas, simultaneously.

Stephon Marbury was unavailable to comment.
roland_t_flakfizer at 03:31 PM on 04/07/08
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@PeteJayhawk: Those pictures made my computer hurt.
Suss-- at 03:33 PM on 04/07/08
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I still contend Texas has a shot at winning this thing.
BigTenObsession at 03:34 PM on 04/07/08
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@PeteJayhawk:

you just broke the interwebs, dammit.
Chamomiles Davis at 03:36 PM on 04/07/08
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@OchentaYcinco: Thank Christ Lidge made it out of the ninth inning with just one run allowed. He had runners on second and third with two outs and a batter hitting .500 on the season (Valentin) at the plate.

As I mentioned elsewhere, if Valentin had dropped one into shallow right field, or worse, homered, the press would have had to interview Lidge via police negotiator.
PeteJayhawk at 03:42 PM on 04/07/08
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Sorry. My drunken photography was totally not worth destroying Interweb abilities.
tater at 03:42 PM on 04/07/08
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@PeteJayhawk:
Second picture is Quinton's isn't it.
Signal to Noise at 03:44 PM on 04/07/08
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Caption:

Cal: "Hey Bill, tell Mangino thanks for the tracksuit, although it's a touch big."
Self: "Adidas sent a bunch of test sizes over and that was one of the clearly undersized ones. Trust me. Never been worn."
PeteJayhawk at 03:47 PM on 04/07/08
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@tater: Nope. Believe it or not, it's actually outside on Mass St. somewhere between 10th and 11th. I think.
Storming the Floor at 04:14 PM on 04/07/08
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@ghostsoftheSCupcountry: Yes, they did. Still, given that they didn't make the tournament several different years in there, I couldn't in good conscience call them a great program over the long haul.
Storming the Floor at 04:14 PM on 04/07/08
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@Chamomiles Davis: You paid $540 to enter a pool?
NovakAintNoJokovic at 04:40 PM on 04/07/08
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A brief history of Memphis with John Calipari and no mention of Worldwide Wes? Henry Abbott does not approve.
decoitous at 04:47 PM on 04/07/08
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Has anyone else been watching the painful ESPN coverage of this event. They have one of their bobbleheads peppering Bobby Knight and Dick Vitale. I swear Vitale is on speed, and every time they pull back for a 3-head shot, you can see Knight seething and plotting Vitale's slow and painful death. ...Which, quite frankly makes Bobby Knight one of the more endearing characters on TV these days.
FightTiger at 04:50 PM on 04/07/08
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Nice wig.
Storming the Floor at 06:12 PM on 04/07/08
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@NovakAintNoJokovic: Amazingly, this was much longer before I realized I was writing for Deadspin and not Sports Illustrated. Sorry if I cut out your favorite bit. Let's just assume it was amazingly well written and would have made you weep.
PeteJayhawk at 06:25 PM on 04/07/08
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@FightTiger: Good hair certainly worked well for Quin Snyder.
FightTiger at 06:46 PM on 04/07/08
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@PeteJayhawk: Who?
NovakAintNoJokovic at 08:21 PM on 04/07/08
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@Storming the Floor: If you were writing for SI, the article would have been used to wipe my ass. As it stands, I printed it out, read it on the toilet, and left it on top of the dispenser for everyone else (male) in my office to enjoy. It's a subtle-but-important distinction.