If anyone spent time on Inside Carolina last night, they might have noticed that the message boards were glowing hot. It was pretty hard to miss. The reason?
With apologies, this isn’t a big deal. I really don’t think anyone expected Roy Williams to be pulling for Memphis last night. I sure wasn’t.
O’l Roy spent the better part of his coaching career at Kansas. In the end, he came home and won us a title in 2005, so by any measure, Carolina got the better end of the deal. In a decade or so, he will retire here, and in the mean time, he’s going to keep on signing great kids, keep on winning lots of games, and keep on having us compete for more national championships. In other words, the 2008 Final Four aside, we continue getting the better end of the deal.
I wasn’t happy about the Jayhawk sticker. After Saturday night, it felt like a punch in the stomach. But there is absolutely no reason to question our coach’s ultimate loyalty.
If anything, this lets us end the rift with Kansas. After last night, we’re back to being sister programs. There’s way too much cross pollination between the two schools (Dean Smith, Larry Brown, Roy Williams) for us to fight forever. Now surely, KU fans will let their bitterness go.
Update: More from THF
Matt Compton 
Roy wearing that Kansas sticker was ridiculous and uncalled-for.
By: Kansas, 2008 National Champions on April 8, 2008
at 10:58 am
I guess Roy really, “don’t give a s*** about North Carolina.”
By: Giant Idiot on April 8, 2008
at 11:42 am
Roy claims to be so loyal to UNC but shows up at the final game wearing a KU sticker on his shirt. Are you kidding me? The least he could have done is worn an NC shirt. He is the coach of the Carolina Tar Heels, isn’t he?
But for such a loyal man who after his Tar Heels lost to KU on Saturday couldn’t stop talking about how he didn’t care who won the game because he would never trade his kids for any other kids. Really Roy? So if I’m Ty Lawson and I’m watching the final game on TV and my friend says, “Hey Ty isn’t that your coach rooting for the team that just destroyed your unprepared team and stole away all hopes you had for an NCAA Championship?” “Oh my bad Ty, that can’t be your coach he’s got a KU sticker on his shirt and he’s wearing nothing that remotely resembles anything associated with NC.”
Then he has the “onions”, as Bill Rafferty would say, to go on CBS with the KU sticker in full view. Although he did put on his Carolina Blue blazer to try to cover it up a bit. Oh that blazer wasn’t Carolina Blue, must be my TV playing tricks on me. PATHETIC!!!
Roy if you are Mr. Loyal and bleed NC Blue did you fly back to Chapel Hill with YOUR team? If you did and then flew back to San Antonio I take back the following comment. If you didn’t fly back to Chapel Hill with your team and I was Carolina’s AD you might be flying back to Chapel Hill but you never would be coaching your EX-team!! You sure would always have a ticket waiting for you for any game at the Dean Dome but don’t bother wearing your NC Blue hat or shirt or vest sweater because we all now know where your true loyalty rests. And that is fine because I always thought you were pressed into taking the NC job and you probably should have stayed at KU. I mean if Dean Smith taught you the value of loyalty I believe he would have fully understood your desire to stay at KU. But you know what Roy you may get your shot to go back to KU because when Bill Self leaves to go “home” and coach his alma mater OSU that will leave your old coaching chair empty and waiting for you back at KU.
So go on with your loyalty sermons but when you leave San Antonio just make sure your flight is headed to Lawrence.
And as a side note I’m sure you’ll still have some top recruits for next year headed to KU because if you were recruiting me to go to NC I’d simply tell you, “Coach I saw you get whopped by KU on Saturday night and then I saw you cheering them on Monday night so I’m going to KU instead on NC. Even you seem to like KU better than NC. See you at the ol’ Field House in Lawrence in October for Midnight with Roy!!(By the way I like KU’s darker blue anyways).
By: Tim on April 8, 2008
at 2:44 pm
Dear Tar Heels,
Can you please make your coach stop thinking about us? It is creepy.
By: KU Fan on April 8, 2008
at 5:45 pm
Ty Lawson should be more worried about how easy it looked for Kansas’ guards to completely disrupt our offense and how he couldn’t do anything on defense to keep them out of the lane.
This is a non-issue for anyone that has matured beyond a middle-school emotional level. Roy has been up front from day one saying that he loves Kansas and the 15 years he spent there, and that he roots for them when they play anyone but Carolina. Until I hear real players (not hypothetical ones) griping about it, this is pointless sniping.
By: Born and Bred Ed on April 8, 2008
at 9:56 pm
Ed:
I really don’t think that Ty Lawson was 100 percent. He had absolutely no first step.
KU has some quick guards, no doubt. But Ty hasn’t looked like that since Boston College.
By: Matt Compton on April 8, 2008
at 11:05 pm
I agree, Matt. He just didn’t look like the Ty Lawson we’re used to. I was really responding to the hypothetical Ty Lawson mentioned above by “Tim”.
By: Born and Bred Ed on April 9, 2008
at 9:15 am