SAN ANTONIO (AP) - As hard as it is to imagine, Memphis keeps
getting better just when it matters the most.
The Tigers claimed their piece of history Saturday, beating UCLA
78-63 in the NCAA men's semifinals to become at 38-1 the winningest
team ever in a single season. Now they have a chance to do what the
other 37-win teams - Duke, Illinois and UNLV - couldn't do: cap it
off with a national championship.
With Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts taking turns at
basketball acrobatics, it's certainly imaginable. And the Bruins
certainly wouldn't doubt it.
"Going into the game, we knew that we was going to win. Ain't
too much to say," Rose said. "We're just a great team. With the
team that we have, it's hard beating us."
Coach John Calipari claimed his Tigers weren't aware they had
set a record for most wins in major college basketball.
"My team's like, 'Is it? That's the most wins?"' Calipari
said. "And then I told them, 'No, no. You've got to get to 39 to
have the most wins.' Hopefully we'll have one more in us."
The Tigers will get their chance Monday night against Kansas,
which beat North Carolina 84-66.
All season, this Memphis team from lightly regarded Conference
USA played along with Calipari's us-against-the-world theme. Now,
the Tigers need only one more victory for their first championship.
UCLA star Kevin Love put on his own show at practice Friday,
hitting a full-court shot. He managed just 12 points - and missed
both open 3-pointers - as the Bruins (35-4) again fell short in
their third straight Final Four appearance.
"As disappointing as this loss is, it's hard to be here three
years in a row and not come away with a championship," coach Ben
Howland said.
"You have to give credit to Memphis State," he said. "There's
a reason why they've only lost one game and they've won 38. They're
a very, very good team."
Rose and Douglas-Roberts, especially.
A star freshman, Rose wasn't content to merely make shots, he
wanted to stamp this Final Four as his own with a series of
show-stoppers that became an NBA audition.
Rose put up lefty floaters and righty scoops, often changing
hands in mid-air, and threw one try over his shoulder. He was in
perpetual motion - once, he caught a pass in traffic,
stutter-stepped just long enough to look his defender in the eye,
and then sped past him for an easy but showy layup.
"Every once in a while, I go, 'Oh my' and I kind of sit down,"
Calipari said. "And they usually come at inopportune times for the
other team."
Rose finished with 25 points and nine rebounds and a bunch of
eye-opening moves that won't show up in the final box.
Rose also hit 11 of 12 free throws. For a team supposedly
vulnerable from the foul line, the Tigers did great in making 20 of
23.
He fittingly wound up with the ball in the final seconds and
heaved it high. Only then did he crack the slightest of smiles.
Douglas-Roberts played like an All-American, scoring 28 points
and Joey Dorsey had the most peculiar line of all - zero points,
but 15 big rebounds in keeping Love out of the middle.
"It's great, it's great," Douglas-Roberts said. "We all
believe in each other and we expect great things to happen, so this
isn't new to us."
Four other teams had won 37 times in a season - Illinois in
2005, UNLV in 1987 and Duke in 1999 and 1986 - but all lost in the
end.
Memphis has won its five games in this NCAA tournament by an
average of nearly 16 points. The Tigers got off to a slower start
this time, falling behind 5-0, before their suddenly chic "dribble
drive motion" offense took over.
Memphis led 50-45 with 13½ minutes left before pulling away.
Rose made a couple of nifty passes, Dorsey came up with a monster
block and later playfully popped Douglas-Roberts on the shoulder
after a slam.
This was certainly no repeat of 1973, when the Tigers - then
known as Memphis State - got routed 87-66 by UCLA in the title
game. Bill Walton hit 21 of 22 shots and scored a record 44 points
that night. But the big man has hip and back problems and wasn't
able to make it to the Alamodome. Fact is, the taller Bruins were
in trouble the entire way.
Russell Westbrook led UCLA with 22 points.
The Tigers spent the whole season aiming at getting back to San
Antonio. They lost to Ohio State on this same court last March in
the regional final and adopted "Remember the Alamodome" as their
motto this season.
In the first Final Four to feature four No. 1 seeds, Rose and
Memphis cruised while Love could do little to stop them.
"At this stage, I feel like Memphis is definitely the best team
we've played," Love said.
The star freshmen needed no introduction. Rose and Love have
played with and against each other since seventh grade, and the
UCLA center reintroduced himself late in the first half, giving his
old pal a hard shoulder on a solid screen.
The first half featured a series of bursts and ended with
Memphis leading 38-35.
Josh Shipp ended his shooting slump with a pair of early 3s that
put UCLA ahead. Memphis, which never trailed in trouncing Texas to
reach the Final Four, struck back as Douglas-Roberts hit his first
four shots.
Then it was time for Rose to take over.
Howland stood the whole game, occasionally bumping into an
official as he called out defenses. He kept shouting "Up! Up!" at
his team, trying to cut down on open looks to no avail.
The UCLA band and cheerleaders broke out their Beach Boys medley
midway through the first half. Love's uncle, Mike, is an original
member of the surfin' group and a big fan - he played a show Friday
night in London and couldn't make it to this game.
Dorsey was the only senior Memphis had on the floor. Backup
guard Andre Allen was suspended this week for violating team rules,
and several players wrote his No. 15 on their shoes.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)