Keefer: Final Four, not the Roy Game

Friday, April 4, 2008

If Kansas can defeat North Carolina tomorrow, it will advance to the National Championship Game. And amazingly, it seems as if that’s a secondary goal to Jayhawk fans.

National Championship? Nah. No time to worry about that. Collectively, Jayhawk Nation is too preoccupied dreaming about getting back at Big, Bad Roy to enjoy what is a truly unique experience – the Final Four.

Kansas has advanced this far only 13 times since the inception of the NCAA Tournament in 1939. That’s once every six years.

So why waste this once, maybe twice-a-decade excitement by fuming about something that was bound to happen? Especially when the person it’s directed toward, North Carolina coach Roy Williams, has a lot to do with where the Kansas program is now, and especially when Williams is approaching the topic in the classiest way possible.

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In 2004, the year after Williams left, it would be understandable if this game contained this amount of ire. But it’s 2008 and five years later.

“I have the greatest love for a place that I gave my heart, my body and my soul for 15 years,” Williams said at a press conference last weekend.

In 2004, the year after Williams left, it would be understandable if this game contained this amount of ire. But it’s 2008 and five years later. It’s time to get over it — it’s even time to celebrate what Williams accomplished here.

By showing such hostility toward the Tar Heels, Jayhawk fans are resembling exactly what they despise. Think about Kansas State basketball this season.

What was so frustrating about the Wildcats was that freshman phenoms Michael Beasley and Bill Walker weren’t promising a run in the NCAA Tournament or a Big 12 Conference title. They were talking about beating Kansas.

That’s all anyone in Manhattan cared about – Kansas, Kansas, Kansas. The Cats possessed a serious inferiority complex.

But at the end of it all, when Beasley was checking out of K-State’s second round rout by Wisconsin, the Jayhawk fans took the high road. Those clad in blue at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., rose to their feet and gave the nation’s best player a standing ovation.

And that was for Michael Beasley, who doesn’t deserve nearly the same recognition from Kansas fans as Roy Williams does. Nine conference championships. Four Final Fours. 418 career victories. Yeah, Roy’s accomplishments at Kansas should speak for themselves.

Don’t let that inferiority complex creep southeast down I-70, and don’t think Roy Williams doesn’t look back fondly on those 15 years of dominance. Just ask the only guy who gets more television time than Barack Obama, Flo Rida and Eliot Spitzer combined: North Carolina junior forward Tyler Hansbrough.

“He’s got a lot of memories there,” Hansbrough said. “And a lot of good people that he knows from there. And he’s got a lot of relationships.”

True, but he should have even more good relationships in Lawrence. He should be recognized as another iconic figure in the linked history of Kansas and North Carolina basketball.

Dean Smith graduated from Kansas and went on to become arguably the greatest coach of all time at North Carolina. Larry Brown played at North Carolina before winning a national championship as a coach at Kansas. Both schools are proud to be connected to Smith and Brown. Like it or not, Williams is the next legendary name in this cycle.

Agree or disagree, Williams had to take the chance and return to his alma mater to coach. It’s just natural to go back to where you came from. Tom Glavine went back to Atlanta to wear a Braves’ uniform, Bruce Dickinson re-joined Iron Maiden and E.T. returned to well, wherever it was from.

But you get the point: The animosity towards Roy Williams should stop. Potentially, something a lot more important will be taking place.

— Edited by Samuel Lamb

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