Saved by the rook, Jekyll-and-Hyde Jayhawks fly on

SAN ANTONIO -- For a moment there, they were this close to becoming the Rock Choke Jayhawks.

But for a moment -- a longer moment -- a Kansas freshman reserve stared into the face of the national player of the year and saw his equal.

Kansas' Cole Aldrich, not UNC's Tyler Hansbrough, is a hero in this game. (Getty Images)

"In my opinion, he was the best player on the floor for three or four minutes," Kansas coach Bill Self said of backup post Cole Aldrich.

And that's all it took for Aldrich to establish that neither he nor the Jayhawks were going to be pushed around. Far from it. Psycho-Cole doesn't sound exactly right. But when Aldrich was playing for a team that was bi-polar Saturday in the Final Four, why not?

Nobody was great all the time in Kansas' 84-66 victory over North Carolina that put the Jayhawks in the national championship game for the first time in five years. But Aldrich is the kind of player you need when you almost blow a 28-point lead.

The 6-foot-11 post set the tone, the way a bouncer sets the tone at closing time. Within the first few seconds he was in the game, Aldrich ripped a rebound out of Tyler Hansbrough's hands, then was fouled going back up by The Guy Who Tries Harder Than Anyone.

"It wasn't just me," Aldrich said in his best freshman-speak. "It was a whole team effort because you can't guard him one-on-one."

But this kid did for those precious opening moments. The first 15 minutes might have been the best Kansas has ever played. It was a mugging for the ages. The Jayhawks led No. 1 North Carolina 40-12. Kansas looked like it was running a layup drill.

Hansbrough, perhaps too tired from walking across the street for another award here in San Antonio, played some of the worst defense of his career. The lane opened up like a liquor store on St. Pat's day. The offense sucked for a while too. The Tar Heels had missed 13 consecutive shots in a nine-minute span. Kansas was on an 18-0 run that grew to a 25-2 run.

In his arrogance, Roy Williams didn't call a momentum-stopping timeout until it was 38-12.

"That is the first time this season this North Carolina team panicked," Tar Heels swingman Marcus Ginyard said.

"It was like, that wasn't North Carolina out there," Carolina guard Quentin Thomas said. "I told someone it looked like we have never played basketball before."

Yes, it was that bad -- or good considering that Jayhawks everywhere can finally throw away those Roy Williams voodoo dolls. Revenge is sweet, or whatever you want to call it when you beat a coach who gave you 15 years and three Final Fours.