04/07/2008 (Championship Monday)

Kansas wins its 3rd national championship which ties them for 5th all-time with Duke.  Kansas is 3-5 in the championship game.

Kansas's championship is the first one for the Big Twelve Conference.

Bill Self wins his first national championship.  He 46th coach to win a national championship.

Bill Self is the 5th coach for Kansas to coach in a championship game which breaks a tournament record.  North Carolina, UCLA and Kentucky have had 4 coaches in the championship game.

Both the Big Twelve Conference and Conference USA were going for their first championship.  The last time that two schools were playing for their conferences first title was in 1984 when Georgetown of the Big East Conference played Houston of the Southwest Conference.

This is the 6th time that two #1 seeds have met in the NCAA Championship and the first time that it has happened in consecutive years. 

Year

Seed

Winner

Score

Seed

Loser

Score

1982

1

North Carolina

63

1

Georgetown

62

1993

1

North Carolina

77

1

Michigan

71

1999

1

Connecticut

77

1

Duke

74

2005

1

North Carolina

75

1

Illinois

70

2007

1

Florida

84

1

Ohio State

75

2008

1

Kansas

75

1

Memphis

68

This is the 7th time that the championship game has gone to overtime.  Kansas ties Cincinnati for the most championship games that went to overtime. 
Year Winner Score Loser Score Overtimes
1944 Utah 42 Dartmouth 40 1
1957 North Carolina 54 Kansas 53 3
1961 Cincinnati 70 Ohio State 65 1
1963 Loyola, Illinois 60 Cincinnati 58 1
1989 Michigan 80 Seton Hall 79 1
1997 Arizona 84 Kentucky 79 1
2008 Kansas 75 Memphis 68 1

Kansas is 5-4 in overtime games.  Memphis is 2-2 in overtime games.  This was the 6th overtime game of this year's tournament.  Only 1995 and 1997 had more overtimes with 7.

Bill Self becomes the first coach to win a championship in his first championship game since 2002 when Gary Williams led Maryland to the championship.

Bill Self becomes the first coach to win a championship in his first final four since 1999 when Jim Calhoun lead Connecticut to the championship.

Memphis becomes the 21st consecutive team to enter the tournament with 1 loss and fail to win the championship.  The last team to win a championship with 1 loss is North Carolina State in 1974.

Memphis is now 14-3 when playing in the state of Texas.  They have won more games in the state of Texas than any other school.

The Big Twelve Conference is now 8-4 vs. Conference USA.

Teams from Kansas are now 4-1 vs. teams from Tennessee.