The Memphis Tigers haven’t been to the national championship since 1973; the UCLA Bruins, on the other hand, have been to the title game three times now (in the last three years). How big was this game for Memphis? Huge.

Leading the Tigers was Derrick Rose, who scored 28 points; Chris-Douglas Roberts scored 25 points; and Joey Dorsey picked up 15 rebounds, keeping UCLA center Kevin Love to 12 points and 9 rebounds.

“He’s a great player,” Dorsey said of Love. “I was just trying to make it hard for him to score, and just trying to dominate the glass so they wouldn’t get second shots on the offensive end.”

The loss was a bitter pill for Bruins’ coach Ben Howland to swallow. Thinking that UCLA had a stronger D, Howland must now explain to his players how it is that even with a superstar like Kevin Love on your team, it ain’t over ’til it’s over. And for this UCLA squad, it is over…until next year.

“It’s disappointing,” coach Howland said, “and there’s a lot of sad kids in that locker room right now.”