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Kansas Jayhawks product Mario Chalmers celebrated his school's run to the national championship on Monday in March Madness. But 14 years ago, Chalmers hit the shot to force overtime, helping Kansas to win the 2008 championship.Before Kansas coach Bill Self celebrated the 2022 title with Chalmers and other alumni, the two led KU to the national title over Memphis 75-68 in 2008.
Chalmers hit the biggest shot of Self's tenure at Kansas. His rainbow 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining, called "Mario's Miracle," sent the game to overtime. Memphis missed four of five free throws in the final 1:15. After Derrick Rose made just one of two free throws with 10.8 seconds left, Chalmers tied the game at 63-63 at the other end.
Kansas had rallied from a nine-point deficit in the second half.
Memphis later vacated the season due to eligibility issues around Rose.
Kansas scored the first six points in overtime, and Rose didn't score in the extra period.
If Chalmers hadn't hit that shot, Self would have been playing for his first national championship on Monday. Winning his second established the Hall of Fame coach among the elite coaches in college basketball.
2022 national champions, the Kansas Jayhawks, carry on Mario Chalmers' legacy
Mario Chalmers' shot in the 2008 NCAA Tournament championship game is one of the biggest moments in the history of the Jayhawks' program.
The 2008 national championship added legitimacy to coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks after a title drought from 1988. Previous coach Roy Williams, who later won three national titles with North Carolina, got Kansas to four Final Fours and two national title games. But he didn't win the championship despite winning 80.5% of his games at KU.
Kansas' second national championship came in 1988, under Hall of Famer Larry Brown and was powered by Danny Manning. That team was known as "Danny and the Miracles."
The Jayhawks have had some of the best college basketball players, coaches and teams in history. But before Self, the school had only four championships (two in the NCAA Tournament). Kansas has been runner-up six times, including once under Self (2012).
During Self's tenure, the Jayhawks have won two NCAA championships in the last 20 years.
The return of Jayhawks legends like Mario Chalmers during March Madness is part of the program's foundation. Chalmers and other KU products celebrated the championship like it was 2008 again.
As KU prepares for its next March Madness run, players from 2008 like Chalmers and from 2022 like Ochai Agbaji will be a part of the culture built under Self.
Guess the Lakers players!
