What the Kansas Jayhawks did in the 2008 NCAA championship game, they could have done in the 2003 game also. Both games were some what similar. KU was facing teams with freshmen prodigies in Carmelo Anthony for Syracuse and Derrick Rose for Memphis. In both games the final score spread was within 7 or less. Both games took place on the night of April 7th. The 2003 game was in New Orleans while the 2008 game was in San Antonio.
The biggest similarity of both games was that one team had terrible free throw shooting. This was one of the main reasons why these two games were opposites for Kansas. In the championship against Syracuse in 2003, Kansas could not make their free-throws, ending up going 12 for 30. If they would have made every free throw (which is highly unlikely) they would have had 18 more points. In the 2008 championship game, KU had a great night shooting free throws but on the other hand Memphis didn't. When it got to crunch time, they just couldn't hit them and that's what gave KU the opportunity for Mario's Miracle.
And a miracle it was in 2008 for Mario Chalmers and KU. Not only did they come back from being nine down with nearly two minutes left in regulation but Mario also drained a three over two Memphis defenders with 2.1 seconds remaining in the game and if he would have missed it the game would have been over. Well, non-KU and non-Syracuse fans who don't remember the 2003 championship game too well say "so how is this related to the championship in '03?".
Kansas got the exact same opportunity in that game against Syracuse. Being down 3 with about 10 seconds left in the game, with score 81 to 78, Kansas brought the ball up court just as they did in '08, Aaron Miles drove right in the '03 game, just as Sherron Collins did against Memphis, then Miles kicked it out to Hinrich, who found Michael Lee wide open in the corner. Lee, who was one of KU's best 3 point shooters that year, squared up perfectly, released the ball perfectly out of his hands to find Hakim Warrick flying over and blocking it. There was almost no way he could have made a block from the top of Syracuse's 2-3 zone but somehow, he did. And it decided the game. KU eventually got the ball inbounds to Hinrich with .7 seconds left who chucked up a prayer that went far and Syracuse took the title.
To this day some still think, what if Lee's shot would have gone in? Most people don't know who Michael Lee is but if that shot went in, he would be remembered by many people, even if KU went on to lose the game, that shot would be a big shot in KU history just as Chalmer's shot was. Who knows if KU would have won or not in overtime if Lee's shot went in, after a shot like that momentum changes everything. The overtime in the 2008 championship game is an example of that. Kansas just took it over cause they had so much momentum from Chalmer's shot.
There are just so many "what-ifs" that could have changed both games completely. What if Michael Lee had not got blocked and made that 3-pointer, what if Derrick Rose had made his first free throw with 10.8 seconds left. If KU would have just made three more free throws in the 2003 game they would have had a tie game. But there are so many things that could have happened so you never know. Just as the saying goes small things make the big things happen, whether it's from Derrick Rose bouncing his first free throw in and out or Hakim Warrick making the extra effort to get the game-saving block.
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