The win over Duke helped UNC’s seeding – and felt good, too.
The debate is pretty much over between who is the better coach, Roy Williams or Mike Krzyzewski. The debate is now whether Roy is more underrated than Coach K is overrated. The ACC semifinal in Brooklyn settles it in my mind both ways.
Krzyzewski has the most all-time wins in college coaching. He is a great, no doubt, loading up with recruits, adapting to the changes in players and the game and winning five NCAA titles. But if he’s the best coach with the best players, what’s going on?
Was that a deer-in-the-headlights look I saw as Carolina was building a 16-point lead over his mega-talented Blue Devils? I think so, until of course Carolina almost coughed up the dad gum game by trying to do the math on time left and possessions needed for Duke to catch up.
Before then, Roy and the Heels had the royal blue completely bamboozled between their passing, outside shooting and mid-range jumpers against the Duke zone. The Tar Heels got points from seven players, six in double figures, and Duke had four players who scored and four who put up goose eggs.
Williams admits he’s stubborn, but his coaching this season has been flexible to say the least. The way UNC got shots against the Duke defense is not the old Carolina zone offense. It is new, creative and fun to watch. I’m convinced if his shooters hadn’t frozen up the last ten minutes in Durham, it would have been a triple play. The Heels are a better T-E-A-M.
So what did that win mean, besides making us all feel really good Saturday morning? For one, it assured the Heels a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, the one that really counts. Clearly, the winner of that game was going to Charlotte with Virginia, and a sold-out, screaming crowd should help UNC win two games and move on to the West Regional.
Have you noticed that Carolina has a chance to reverse what happened to the last Tar Heel team not to make the Final Four? The West Regional is in LA’s Staples Center, where Joel and Theo played as freshmen in the 2015 Sweet Sixteen and lost to a Big Ten team, Wisconsin, in a very close game.
Hmmm, looks like it could be Michigan this time.
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I believe that Roy is the better coach than Coach K because he has been doing more with less in terms of nationally ranked recruits. Dean Smith believed that team came before individual, and what that translates into is actually is team chemistry. Taking the highest ranking recruits every year knowing that almost every one of them are one and done doesn’t translate into experience and team chemistry. Roy has recruited from the leftovers of Kentucky and Duke as well as the other johnny come lately schools in the past few years and was able to land players who fit the mold of team chemistry in a way that fit Roy’s system better than the all five star one and done players would have. The blend of players who stay for 2 or more years and the type of player that Roy actually wanted to come to UNC has worked better in the long run than the concept of taking the very top level players and having them leave after one year. It also proves that Roy is better at developing players and blending the together as a team than other coaches like Calipari or Coach K. Anyone who follows college basketball and knows anything about team success will tell you Roy has been the most successful coach over the last 15 years and if the one and done stays he will continue that success.
I agree Roys record and Coach K record over the past 15 years Roy has been the better coach hands down!!
What’s not debateable is UNC consistently has a top 10 SOS ..by choice ..and many of those away games
Whereas Coach K has padded his numbers scheduling nothing but cream puffs at Cameron. the only time Dook plays a hard opponent is when they are forced too .such as the ACC big ten challenge
Sure Coach K has the most wins…..they will roll him out on a gurney to “coach” against creampuffs 10 years from now to pad his wins
Who has a better w/l record …regular season ..tourney ….etc
Roy Williams
Also as a coach ..how many all Americans has each coached …oh wait let’s dig deeper ..How many have they developed from 3/4 star to all american or reven all ACC
You do the math