A few rambling thoughts on an NCAA men’s final that wasn’t at all times aesthetically pleasing but, in the end, provided for a pretty fun finale.

So many people will talk about Memphis’ free-throw (dis-)ability and there’s no doubt that the Tigers’ effort at the free throw line — their Achilles heel all season long — finally came back and bit them in the backside at critical times on Monday.

However, how the Tigers blew a nine-point lead in the final two minutes of a national final and then lost in overtime is only based partially on sucking at free throws.

There was a prevailing feeling through most of the game that it was Memphis that had to work really hard for its hoops, while Kansas was getting its points in the course of its offence. And that, not surprisingly, stood out in the late stages more than any other time when the Jayhawks were getting better looks and easier shots closer to the basket.

An offence that Memphis coach John Calipari referred to as “Princeton on steroids” — in reference to Pete Carill’s Ivy League O predicated on off-the-ball motion and penetrate-and-pitch tactics — suddenly bogged down into a stale and static machine, the equivalent of a 1978 El Camino with four flat tires parked in your front yard.

One entry pass and four players standing around watching their teammate try to do something — anything — to get a hoop when the Tigers needed it. With that taking place, predictably in the end the Tigers were scrambling in an offence that relies in large part on individuals’ ability to create on the fly.

On the other end, the Jayhawks were poised in the late stages and didn’t allow that nine-point deficit to stand as an overwhelming hole. They went to big man Darrell Arthur — he finished with 20 and 10 — worked their screen and roll on the wing over and over, and basically were more consistent in controlling the tempo of the game. It was a pair of up-and-down teams but the predominating feeling was that KU was getting the pace that suited it the best. In fact, the high-tempo Tigers mustered just four fast-break points all game.

The Tigers were the 339th-ranked of 341 teams in free throw shooting this season, and that’s most certainly what people will talk about in the hindsight chats around the water cooler. But Memphis’ offence was also to blame. The Tigers were the ones who had the best view to one of the biggest meltdowns in NCAA final history.

After all, they were the ones who were standing around watching it.