Won And Done! Kentucky Clinches 2012 National Championship Over Kansas, 67-59

When someone asks me what my favorite city is in this country, my answer is usually swift: New Orleans. And not just because my brother lives there (though that is always a great thing). It’s because of the architecture, the cobblestone streets, and the intense localization -- probably my favorite part is Magazine Street, littered with almost all mom-and-pop shops, each one of them unique.

Of course, when writing anything about New Orleans, the music, food and accessible alcohol are a must. But whenever I go down to the Crescent City, I usually stay far away from the French Quarter, and find the other spots that help define the culture. When I was told to head down to the Final Four this past weekend, I wanted to explore a few other parts of the city, see how people, the real people of the city, were celebrating. Sure, I went to Bourbon Street (where one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen happened), but I also went to Willie Mae’s Scotch House (best fried chicken in the country) and I went to Cure, an uptown cocktail bar that’s pretty much the polar opposite of Bourbon.

The commercial tells us all the time: There are over 400,000 NCAA student-athletes, and most of them will go pro in something other than sports. And then there’s Anthony Davis, and that’s a whole other story.

He’s everything you’d expect basketball superstars to look like 75 years from now. Seven feet tall with arms that stretch forever, he jumps over you or runs past you, and plays power forward with the skills of a point guard. It doesn’t seem fair, and surrounded by college basketball players, it definitely isn’t.

The 2012 Kansas team was made up of veterans who knew what disappointment and defeat felt like. This was a Kansas team that didn’t win the Championship, but as Rock Chalk Talk says, it wasn’t a team that lost it and is a team that Kansas fans can be proud of, even in defeat.

For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more on the Jayhawks, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more updates on Monday’s championship game, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

In the past, the argument had been made that you can’t win a championship with a team of freshmen, but the Wildcats blew that theory out of the water with their dominant run through the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more on the Jayhawks, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more updates on Kentucky’s championship hroughout the day, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

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Whatever you think about John Calipari, you can no longer say he can’t win the big one. Kentucky’s controversial head coach expressed relief over that fact during his post-game press conference following Monday’s 67-59 win over Kansas.

“You know what it is, I told my wife, I’m glad it’s done,” he said. “Now I can get about my business of coaching basketball and getting these players to be the best that they can be, helping young people, you know, create better lives for themselves and their families, and also helping them prepare for life after basketball.

It’s tough to find humor in all of the destruction, but fortunately not all of the drunken idiocy has been violent. Take, for example, the proudly profane fan in the video after the jump, whose NSFW cameo stunned the TV crew into silence.

For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more on the Jayhawks, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more updates on tonight’s championship game throughout the day, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

Though this year’s tournament lacked many of the thrilling buzzer-beaters of previous years, it certainly wasn’t without memorable games -- many of which were featured in CBS’ annual “One Shining Moment” montage, which can be viewed after the jump.

In the end it would be Kentucky, with its roster loaded with NBA-caliber talent, including three freshmen likely to be picked in the first round, who lost just two games before the tournament before cutting down the nets at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Kentucky held the lead from early on in the 2012 NCAA Tournament final on Monday night. And the Wildcats seemed to be bobbling it in the second half as Kansas made an improbable run. But the immensely talented Wildcats ultimately held on for a 67-59 victory, giving the most successful program in college basketball its first national championship since 1998 — and allowing John Calipari to hold the trophy high for the first time in his career.

The Wildcats didn’t encounter a team in the 2012 NCAA Tournament that did: their six wins came by an average of 15.4 points, and none by fewer than eight.

”Still think we’re a bunch of dumb jocks?” Well, yeah, kind of ... that is, unless the 2013 Final Four really is being played in Lithuania. Photo evidence after the jump.

Withey’s record is more event-specific: with his two blocks, the Kansas center pushed his total in the NCAA Tournament to 29, tying the record for blocks in a single tournament set by Florida’s Joakim Noah in 2006. His more impressive block was his second, a close-out that saw him come from the free throw line to swat a shot out of bounds.

Oh, and Davis is now at 26 blocks for his NCAA Tournament. So he may be snagging another record by the end of the night.

After a fantastic first half in the 2012 NCAA Tournament final, Kentucky is 20 minutes from a national championship. The Wildcats are up 41-27 on Kansas at halftime.

For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more on the Jayhawks, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more updates on tonight’s championship game throughout the day, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

Kentucky began the 2012 NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed. Entering Monday night’s NCAA Tournament final against Kansas, the Wildcats seemed like prohibitive favorites. And now, at the under-eight timeout in the first half, Kentucky looks to be less than a half-hour of game time from a national championship, leading Kansas 31-19.

For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more on the Jayhawks, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more updates on tonight’s championship game, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

It’s tough sometimes, the NBA life. If your school was in the NCAA title game, you’d plan your whole night around it. Gooden is just going to hop off of a team flight and find out whether or not his school is NCAA champs.

So how’s he coping?

With the 2012 NCAA Tournament final just hours away, SB Nation’s Andrew Sharp has woken up, lamentably forgotten to comb back his bangs, and delivered his prediction for the clash between Kentucky and Kansas. Video of it is after the jump.

Come on, did you think Sharp was going to pick the Kansas team that eliminated his North Carolina squad? “I think this is the year that (John) Calipari gets it done,” he says, also noting that Kentucky’s mere eight-point triumph over Louisville in the Final Four matchup was a “B-minus” game by the Wildcats’ lofty standards.

You can check out the abomination after the jump.

For more on Jayhawks’ now cursed title chances, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more updates on tonight’s championship game throughout the day, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

The Tigers made just 12-of-19 attempts from the charity stripe in the 2008 championship game. This year’s Wildcats should fare a little better, having made 72.3 percent of their attempts on the year.

For more on Self and the Jayhawks, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more updates on tonight’s championship game throughout the day, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

For more on Self and the Jayhawks, head over to the SB Nation blog Rock Chalk Talk. For more on the Wildcats, check out A Sea of Blue. For more updates on tonight’s championship game throughout the day, keep it tuned to this StoryStream.

It’s the first Monday in April, and that means it’s time for the National Championship. Kentucky and Kansas have gotten here in completely different ways, but that’s part of what makes tonight so much fun. UK is the unstoppable force, KU is the immovable object that’s sort of tumbled into this moment by accident.

It’s more fun this way. Anyone playing Kentucky wears the underdog’s hat, but with this Kansas team, it fits perfectly. Anyway, to get ready for Monday night, some scattered thoughts are below.

When Kansas completed a stunning comeback down nine with two minutes left against Memphis in the 2008 national title game, it dealt John Calipari his greatest defeat yet, as another of his extremely talented teams fell short in March.

However, four years later, it’s hard to call Bill Self’s 2008 team the underdog.