BigRedChief
04-06-2008, 12:18 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/180/v-print/story/563320.html
SAN ANTONIO | The lasting image happened in the final seconds, when Roy Williams stood on the sideline, and Kansas fans chanted “Rock Chalk.” It was the first time as a head basketball coach that Williams heard that chant from the losing bench. There had to be some strange emotions rumbling inside the man.
He would not talk about those emotions afterward. No. He said the things he always said in such moments, after his team had been outplayed and out-toughed in the NCAA Tournament. He said that he apologized to his players for letting them down. He said that he’s proud as all get-out. He talked about how he coaches such good kids.
“I wouldn’t trade teams because of the character our guys have,” Williams said after it ended. And, as usual, he caught himself.
“That’s not a slight to Kansas,” he said.
The speech was as familiar as Thanksgiving turkey, and yet … it sounded strange to hear it from the other side. Kansas manhandled North Carolina on Saturday. There’s no mistaking that. Kansas beat North Carolina 84-66. It was a knockout.
Many had come into Saturday’s game expecting to see North Carolina run free, score at will, put up 90 points, maybe 100; the Tar Heels were the first team in years to score 100 points in each of their first two NCAA Tournament games. Kansas, many figured, would get washed away.
Then something happened. Old sportswriters tell a great story about the first time Muhammad Ali — Cassius Clay then — fought against Sonny Liston. Leading up to the fight, everyone portrayed Liston as this blood-thirsty monster who could not be stopped, could not be hurt — people literally were worried that Liston would kill Clay.
Then the two men stepped in the ring for the fight, and a few sportswriters noticed during the pre-fight introductions that Clay was actually bigger than Liston. And they realized they had been duped. And Clay battered Liston into submission.
Same thing here. Outsiders may have expected North Carolina to score furiously, but just minutes into the game, they also realized that they had been duped. Kansas can play defense with any team in the country. This is what Bill Self has been instilling in Kansas basketball ever since he arrived five years ago. He admires Roy Williams’ coaching, but he does not agree with it. He wants his players in their players’ faces.
From the start, they were in the faces of those North Carolina players. And they didn’t like it. Well, nobody really does, but Williams’ teams may like it less.
Sure, Roy Williams said that he tried to warn his players, tried to prepare them. He explained afterward that he had told his players all those things coaches say when facing a great defensive team: Don’t take quick shots. Be strong with the ball. Meet the pass. Guards, don’t try and dribble between two defenders. Don’t dribble in traffic. And so on.
But those are just principles. In the end, it’s hard for high-scoring teams to believe that they can be stopped by anybody.
It was pretty clear that was the Tar Heels’ whole attitude coming into this game. They came prepared for a track meet and, instead, found themselves in a tough-man contest. They got knocked out early. Kansas led 7-2, then 15-8, then 23-10, then 32-10, then 40-12 — it was incredible, ridiculous, nobody could believe what was happening.
“This is not over,” CBS’ Billy Packer told the national audience, the same time Roy Williams was saying that to his players, the same time that analysts and coaches all over the Alamodome were saying that to each other.
No, it was not over, not exactly, because big leads, like money, youth and weekends, disappear faster than you think — especially against those high-scoring Roy Williams teams. Who could forget the furious comeback his 1997 Kansas team had against Arizona after trailing by 13 with three and a half minutes to go?
But that comeback, like most furious comebacks, fell short. And Saturday, while North Carolina did manage to cut Kansas’ lead to four in the second half, they had nothing left for the finish, and the Jayhawks mercilessly put them away. It might be right to say North Carolina threw a scare into the Jayhawks. But it would not be right to say the game was close.
With about a minute left, Roy Williams heard the “Rock Chalk” chant. Williams would say after the game that he never really thought about playing his old school, not after the game began. That might be true. But it had to be strange for him to hear that familiar chant, the one that ended most of his Kansas victories, the one that had for so many years sounded like a Christmas carol, something that made him feel good.
It definitely felt strange for us to hear him say all those things we had heard him say after the heartbreaking Jayhawks tournament losses. There he was saying again and again that his players were good kids, that his players had character, that his players were hurting — and from the other side you certainly could take all that to mean that Kansas doesn’t have kids as good, or players with as much character, and that losing hurts at North Carolina more than anywhere else.
You could take it that way, but I’d prefer not to. That’s just Roy being Roy. He’s an emotional guy. He gets carried away. He’s also one heck of a basketball coach, and his teams play fun and thrilling basketball, and North Carolina will keep winning year after year for as long as Roy’s there.
Then again, Kansas is going to the national-championship game. Kansas was the tougher team on Saturday. It was no accident: Bill Self coached them that way.
SAN ANTONIO | The lasting image happened in the final seconds, when Roy Williams stood on the sideline, and Kansas fans chanted “Rock Chalk.” It was the first time as a head basketball coach that Williams heard that chant from the losing bench. There had to be some strange emotions rumbling inside the man.
He would not talk about those emotions afterward. No. He said the things he always said in such moments, after his team had been outplayed and out-toughed in the NCAA Tournament. He said that he apologized to his players for letting them down. He said that he’s proud as all get-out. He talked about how he coaches such good kids.
“I wouldn’t trade teams because of the character our guys have,” Williams said after it ended. And, as usual, he caught himself.
“That’s not a slight to Kansas,” he said.
The speech was as familiar as Thanksgiving turkey, and yet … it sounded strange to hear it from the other side. Kansas manhandled North Carolina on Saturday. There’s no mistaking that. Kansas beat North Carolina 84-66. It was a knockout.
Many had come into Saturday’s game expecting to see North Carolina run free, score at will, put up 90 points, maybe 100; the Tar Heels were the first team in years to score 100 points in each of their first two NCAA Tournament games. Kansas, many figured, would get washed away.
Then something happened. Old sportswriters tell a great story about the first time Muhammad Ali — Cassius Clay then — fought against Sonny Liston. Leading up to the fight, everyone portrayed Liston as this blood-thirsty monster who could not be stopped, could not be hurt — people literally were worried that Liston would kill Clay.
Then the two men stepped in the ring for the fight, and a few sportswriters noticed during the pre-fight introductions that Clay was actually bigger than Liston. And they realized they had been duped. And Clay battered Liston into submission.
Same thing here. Outsiders may have expected North Carolina to score furiously, but just minutes into the game, they also realized that they had been duped. Kansas can play defense with any team in the country. This is what Bill Self has been instilling in Kansas basketball ever since he arrived five years ago. He admires Roy Williams’ coaching, but he does not agree with it. He wants his players in their players’ faces.
From the start, they were in the faces of those North Carolina players. And they didn’t like it. Well, nobody really does, but Williams’ teams may like it less.
Sure, Roy Williams said that he tried to warn his players, tried to prepare them. He explained afterward that he had told his players all those things coaches say when facing a great defensive team: Don’t take quick shots. Be strong with the ball. Meet the pass. Guards, don’t try and dribble between two defenders. Don’t dribble in traffic. And so on.
But those are just principles. In the end, it’s hard for high-scoring teams to believe that they can be stopped by anybody.
It was pretty clear that was the Tar Heels’ whole attitude coming into this game. They came prepared for a track meet and, instead, found themselves in a tough-man contest. They got knocked out early. Kansas led 7-2, then 15-8, then 23-10, then 32-10, then 40-12 — it was incredible, ridiculous, nobody could believe what was happening.
“This is not over,” CBS’ Billy Packer told the national audience, the same time Roy Williams was saying that to his players, the same time that analysts and coaches all over the Alamodome were saying that to each other.
No, it was not over, not exactly, because big leads, like money, youth and weekends, disappear faster than you think — especially against those high-scoring Roy Williams teams. Who could forget the furious comeback his 1997 Kansas team had against Arizona after trailing by 13 with three and a half minutes to go?
But that comeback, like most furious comebacks, fell short. And Saturday, while North Carolina did manage to cut Kansas’ lead to four in the second half, they had nothing left for the finish, and the Jayhawks mercilessly put them away. It might be right to say North Carolina threw a scare into the Jayhawks. But it would not be right to say the game was close.
With about a minute left, Roy Williams heard the “Rock Chalk” chant. Williams would say after the game that he never really thought about playing his old school, not after the game began. That might be true. But it had to be strange for him to hear that familiar chant, the one that ended most of his Kansas victories, the one that had for so many years sounded like a Christmas carol, something that made him feel good.
It definitely felt strange for us to hear him say all those things we had heard him say after the heartbreaking Jayhawks tournament losses. There he was saying again and again that his players were good kids, that his players had character, that his players were hurting — and from the other side you certainly could take all that to mean that Kansas doesn’t have kids as good, or players with as much character, and that losing hurts at North Carolina more than anywhere else.
You could take it that way, but I’d prefer not to. That’s just Roy being Roy. He’s an emotional guy. He gets carried away. He’s also one heck of a basketball coach, and his teams play fun and thrilling basketball, and North Carolina will keep winning year after year for as long as Roy’s there.
Then again, Kansas is going to the national-championship game. Kansas was the tougher team on Saturday. It was no accident: Bill Self coached them that way.