Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Chicago, Ill. — KU fans celebrated at Memorial Stadium in 2000 when Roy Williams announced he was staying. They cried with him after tough losses in the NCAA Tournament. He was their coach.
When he left for North Carolina in 2003, it all changed. He became a traitor.
Kansas coach Bill Self yells to his team during the first half of the NCAA Midwest Regional basketball final against Davidson, Sunday, March 30, 2008, in Detroit.
Now fans get their dream matchup, Kansas and North Carolina, with a spot in the national championship game on the line.
“This is probably the game Kansas fans wished for, waited for ever since the day Roy signed with North Carolina,” senior guard Russell Robinson said. “Here it is coming up in about a week and it feels good to be a part of it.”
Robinson never got recruited by Williams, who left to coach the Tar Heels after leading the Jayhawks to the national title game in 2003. Darnell Jackson only knows Williams from when Williams recruited his friend, J.R. Giddens. Jeremy Case, a redshirt senior, is the only player on the roster who Williams recruited. Case has no hard feelings.
In fact, the players and Kansas coach Bill Self could care less about facing Williams.
“There’ll be a lot of talk about nothing,” Self said. “Our fans should not be pulling for Roy this weekend, but they should be proud and happy he was at the helm for 15 years because he did a remarkable job.”
North Carolina head coach Roy Williams reacts during the first half of the NCAA East Regional final basketball game against Louisville Saturday, March 29, 2008, in Charlotte, N.C.
The Jayhawk are rightfully more worried about Carolina’s players than its coach. The Tar Heels are the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament. Tyler Hansbrough, a national player of the year candidate, scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Heels’ Elite Eight game. Tywon Lawson is one of the best point guards in the country. He runs an offense that averages 89.2 points a game. Danny Green and Wayne Ellington are two of Carolina’s other top players.
They’re fast. They’re experienced. They’re good – so good that they worried Robinson when he was watching their Elite Eight game Saturday.
“I kind of stopped watching the North Carolina game because I got a little nervous,” Robinson said. “Just being a fan, knowing Louisville was playing really well, I was like, ‘Whoa I don’t want to watch this’ It’s going to be a challenge.”
It should also be fun. The final score’s not going to be in the 50s like the Davidson game. Kansas will probably run, and the Tar Heels almost certainly will.
“I’ve watched a lot of their games,” Case said, “and they can score like no one. They’re the best right now. It’s going to be a fast-paced game. It’s going to go down to whoever gets the stops.”
And the players are the ones who will decide that. Not the coaches.
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Notes
All KU needs is Ben Howland
Then all the Final Four coaches would have Jayhawk connections. UCLA coach Howland isn’t affiliated with Kansas in any way, but Self, Memphis’ John Calipari and North Carolina’s Roy Williams are. Self, duh, coaches Kansas now. Calipari worked as an assistant under Larry Brown in the mid-80s. Williams coached at Kansas from 1988 to 2003.
“Obviously Cal is really proud of his time at KU and Roy is obviously very proud,” Self said. “There is a common denominator.”
San Antonio
Fans will remember this trip if they head south this weekend. Self called San Antonio the best place to have the Final Four because of the River Walk and the warm weather. Robinson is looking forward to the city as well. “It’s a little hotter than it is out here,” Robinson said.
“Roy or myself,” Self said, “we’re not going to make one shot or even get any up on Saturday so we need to focus in on their players.”
— Edited by Sasha Roe
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Comments
Players don’t get sidetracked by past
karma is a b**** roy. lets show him what he left.
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