LAMB, THERE IT IS: Doron Lamb of Queens, who led Kentucky with a game-high 22 points, cuts down the nets. (Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS — The experts said this could not happen, a team so young and so talented — the competing egos, the personal agendas — it just couldn’t work.
They were wrong.
Led by a coach who waited some 20 years before he got a head-coaching gig at a BCS conference school — and what a job it is — the 2012 Kentucky Wildcats won the school’s eighth national title last night.
Despite starting three freshmen and two sophomores, all of whom are expected to enter the NBA Draft, the Wildcats played remarkably selfless basketball in a 67-59 win.
“We don’t care who got the accolades,’’ sophomore Terrence Jones said. “The goal was to get to this point.’’
They outlasted a Kansas team that got here by forcing teams to play demolition-derby hoops. But this Kentucky team was too good, too tough and too well-coached to be dragged down in the muck.
Anthony Davis became the fourth freshman in history to win the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player trophy. He scored just six points, but he had 16 rebounds, six blocked shots and five assists. Queens native Doron Lamb, a sophomore guard, led the Wildcats (38-2) with a game-high 22 points.
Calipari, who was heavily criticized after his Memphis team lost the 2008 NCAA championship game to Bill Self’s Kansas team, avenged that loss and then some.
He is one of just two coaches, along with Rick Pitino, to lead three teams to the Final Four (Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky), but he never got to cut down the nets — until last night.
“This is a player’s program,’’ said Calipari.
When the final horn sounded, Calipari turned to his assistants and hugged them in a combination of relief and disbelief.
“Cal’s an emotional guy and I knew that he must have been feeling gratified, satisfied and proud,’’ said Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua, who was raised in The Bronx. “These kids sacrificed for all of us.’’
The Jayhawks did what they did all tournament — they kept coming back from the brink. A lesser team than Kentucky would have folded.
The final drama played out in the final 1:37. Thomas Robinson converted two free throws to cap a 19-8 run and bring Kansas to within 62-57. Davis converted one free throw, but kept it a two-possession game with a miss. The Jayhawks, however, turned it over and Marquis Teague made two clutch free throws.
“They’re tough,’’ Self said of his team. “We’ve come a long way and certainly surprised a lot of people, maybe even ourselves a little bit with how well they’ve done.’’
The Wildcats (38-2), playing fierce defense, surged to a 39-21 lead with just under three minutes remaining in the first half. Could Kansas (32-7) do it again? It didn’t appear so.
After the Jayhawks got to within 48-38 former St. Anthony star Tyshawn Taylor, who led Kansas with 19 points, committed a turnover. Lamb stuck back-to-back 3-pointers, seemingly ending the Jayhawks’ hopes.
But Kansas made one last run.
Taylor hit a 3 and then converted on a three-point play. For the first time since the 8:16 mark of the first half, Kansas was within single digits, 59-50.
Two Robinson free throws made it 57-50. But after Lamb missed a 3, the Jayhawks turned it over. This time it was Teague who stuck a 3 with 2:48 left.
“When I was younger it was important to me,’’ said Calipari. “Now I’m older.’’
Winning never gets old, especially seen through the eyes of the young.
lenn.robbins@nypost.com