Title Is in ‘Cuse Control

The Little Rascals outfoxed the old fogies again, just like in the talkies. Ran circles around them. Reminded them that free play can beat hard work and dashed away in glee.

Yet kids know the way to school, even when they stray. That includes Carmelo Anthony, who never needed to attend a single day.

He did, though, for one glorious year, and Syracuse will eternally be grateful.

Anthony and fellow freshmen Gerry McNamara and Billy Edelin keyed an 81-78 victory over Kansas and its pair of senior standouts Monday night, bringing Syracuse its first NCAA championship.

So it is Jim Boeheim rather than Roy Williams who shakes the label of great coach who can’t win the big one.

For Williams, always classy in defeat, his day might come at his alma mater, North Carolina, which is poised to make a push for him to return as coach.

Boeheim, in his 27th season and third title game, displayed the patience of a kindergarten teacher, calming his team when Kansas cut into a double-digit Syracuse lead and forced the three freshmen to mature in front of 54,524 at the Superdome and a national TV audience.

“They freewheeled it and looked for their shots,” Boeheim said. “They were loose.”

And despite several exasperating moments of youthful indiscretion -- wild shots and silly passes that allowed Kansas to pull within a long basket of forcing overtime -- Our Gang of Orangemen proved as crowd-pleasing as Blue Man Group.

The three freshmen combined for 50 points. Thirteen minutes into the game they had outscored Kansas, 29-27.

Anthony, an All-American forward, had 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, his second double-double of the Final Four. Should he leave for the NBA as expected, his parting shot was one of the finest performances by a freshman on this stage.

“Winning the national championship, it ain’t sunk in yet,” he said. “Probably tonight it will.”

McNamara, a cocksure shooter from blue-collar Scranton, Pa., scored 18 points, all in the first half on three-point baskets when Syracuse seized a 53-42 lead.

Edelin, whose off-court problems caused him to miss the first 12 games this season, picked up the slack in the second half, scoring eight of his 12 points and calmly making four free throws at a time the Jayhawks were missing most of theirs. Kansas (30-8) was 12 for 30 from the line.

“Freshmen aren’t like they were five and 10 years ago,” Williams said. “They’re so much more worldly.”

And seniors such as Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich grasped the significance of the title game so acutely, it appeared to cause them to tighten.

Collison was rugged inside, notching 19 points and 21 rebounds, but was ragged at the foul line, missing seven of 10.

Hinrich, the best Jayhawk perimeter shooter, tossed up an airball to begin the game and ended it with a wild miss at the buzzer. Moments earlier, he passed up a look at the basket and passed to Michael Lee, who had a three-point attempt blocked by Hakim Warrick with 1.5 seconds left.

“I was a ways out there,” said Hinrich, who missed 14 of 20 shots and scored 16 points. “I thought I had two guys on me and he was open. They just did a great job of closing on him.”

Kansas forward Keith Langford changed shoes at halftime -- a superstition he employs when the Jayhawks trail -- and a lightning fast 10-0 run closed the gap to 55-52.

The Jayhawks fought on the boards for repeated second-chance points, and finished with 52 rebounds, half of them on the offensive end. But Hinrich sprained his left ankle with 12:33 to play, Edelin scored on an acrobatic leaner to increase the margin to 10 with nine minutes left and Syracuse (30-5) whittled off several minutes, still leading by seven after Edelin’s layup with two minutes left.

Kansas scored the next five points, the last a free throw by Jeff Graves to make the score 80-78 with 39.9 seconds left. Graves had 16 points and 16 rebounds but hit only two of seven free throws, and his last miss kept Kansas from pulling within one.

Collison fouled out 15 seconds later, sending Kueth Duany to the line, and Duany made his second shot, setting up the Hinrich pass to Lee and Warrick’s block.

Syracuse scored only 28 points in the second half after setting a championship game record with 53 in the first. McNamara was so loose he might have been shooting at the Scranton Boys’ Club, making six of eight three-pointers.

“Gerry, if he makes one, he thinks he’s going to make them all,” Boeheim said. “Of course, if he misses one, he thinks he’s going to make them all. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Boeheim ranks first in Division I with 38 NCAA tournament victories and has the longest tenure at one school of any current coach. He remembers Syracuse losing the 1987 final to Indiana by one point at the Superdome as if it happened yesterday, and he admitted to being exhausted after this game.

“I’m happy, tremendously happy,” he said. “But I don’t have the stamina I used to.”

He can appreciate the carefree exuberance of his freshmen, though. They got him over the hump. Now he can rest.

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BY THE NUMBERS

4-17

Kansas’ numbers from the free-throw line in the second half.

12-30

Kansas’ numbers from the free-throw line for the game.

34

Tournament victories for Kansas’ Roy Williams, the most of any coach who hasn’t won the title.

38

Tournament victories for Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who had the record before winning Monday.

6

Three-point shots made by Syracuse freshman Gerry McNamara, one shy of the championship game record (Steve Alford, Indiana; Dave Sieger, Oklahoma; Tony Delk, Kentucky).

3

Number of third-seeded teams that have won the title (Indiana, 1981; Michigan, 1989; Syracuse, 2003).