SAN ANTONIO — That's the thing about one shining moment.

Somewhere else, there is darkness.

Somewhere else, there is chill.

After one shining moment carried Kansas to a breathless national championship that will live forever, somewhere else kids were crying.

Somewhere else, kids were biting the bottoms of their jerseys, hiding their heads in their towels, throwing punches through the confetti.

One shining moment gave Kansas a 75-68 overtime victory in the national title game last night.

One shattering collapse left Memphis somewhere else.

"One minute, we were national champions," said the Tigers' Antonio Anderson softly, standing in a laundry-littered locker room, alone after a failure in front of millions. "But then one minute later, they're hitting a history shot and we've lost it all and I'm like, `Wow. Damn.' "

Wow. Damn. Indeed.

The rocking, chalking folks of Kansas will remember this as the night their team overcame a nine-point deficit in the final 2:21 of regulation, tying it on a Mario Chalmers' three-pointer with two seconds remaining, blowing away the Tigers in the extra period.

History, however, will remember it as the night Memphis blew it.

The Jayhawks will say they stole it with great fundamentals. History will say the Tigers gave it to them with lousy fundamentals.

The Jayhawks will sing the praises of their coach, Bill Self. History will highlight the flaws of Tigers Coach John Calipari.

Said Calipari, his shirt rumpled and his face pale: "I'm disappointed in myself. I look at that and say, `We should have won that game.' "

Said Self: `'I know they missed a couple of free throws and we caught a couple of breaks later."

It was really one big break, occurring at the heart of a Memphis culture that promotes highlights over headiness, and swagger over simplicity.

For all their great athleticism, the Tigers lost because they could not perform the basics.

"They're not machines, these kids," protested Calipari. `They're just not."

But in the end, Kansas played like a machine, while Memphis morphed into a jumble of oddly blinking lights and strange clanging noises.

They lost, first, because they could not make free throws.

They missed four of five in the final 1:15 of regulation, any of which could have won the game.

They missed seven during the game, while Kansas missed one.

"I really can't explain why," said Chris Douglas-Roberts, who missed three down the stretch. `'You can't describe things like that. You really can't."

However, their problems were described throughout the regular season, when they shot free throws worse than any major power, making less than six out of 10.

Throughout the tournament they claimed they would make them when they counted.

"And we didn't," said Robert Dozier. `'It came back to bite us."

Memo to youngsters: Doesn't it always?

The Tigers also lost because they could not execute routine plays and follow simple concepts.

The Kansas comeback really began when Sherron Collins stole an in-bounds pass and hit a 3-pointer to close the gap to four points with 1:46 remaining.

"At the end, we were tired and just winging it out there," said Dozier.

The Kansas comeback was then fueled when center Joey Dorsey fouled out with 1:23 remaining by hitting a guard about a zillion feet from the basket.

"I was like, `Oh my God,' " said Dorsey.

The Kansas comeback was complete when the Tigers failed to commit a foul in the final seconds that would have prevented Chalmers from launching the 3-pointer.

That's right, they not only committed silly fouls, but they couldn't commit smart fouls.

If a foul had been made, then the Jayhawks would have been forced to shot two free throws, missing the second intentionally and hope for incredible luck to win.

But, no, the Tigers couldn't catch a guy quick enough, and hit him hard enough, to foul him.

"Sherron Collins got away, we were going to foul at halfcourt," said Calipari.

The quickest team in basketball, and somebody gets away?

Finally, the Tigers lost because, for all the controversy this weekend over the coaching capabilities of Calipari, well ...

After the one step forward he took against UCLA in the semifinal victory, Calipari's reputation has taken two steps back.

In those final two minutes and the overtime, the Tigers seemed dazed and confused.

After missing two free throws in the final moments, Chris Douglas-Roberts, the team's emotional leader, spiked the ball so hard, he could have easily been assessed a technical foul.

During the overtime, six of their eight shots were 3-point attempts.

Still trailing by just three points in the final minute, Douglas-Roberts committed another far-from-the-basket silly foul that ruined a good defensive stretch that could have changed the game.

`'In the huddle before the overtime, I told everyone to be positive," said Anderson. `'But I could tell, we were just really tired."

After it ended, a different feeling overwhelmed them.

`'I'm still kind of numb to be honest with you,"' Calipari said.

When he starts to feel again, it will not feel good, not for his players, not for his loyal fans, and certainly not for the growing legacy of Memphis basketball.

Kansas will remember this as one shining moment.

History will remember it as one lost one.