Roy Williams has been better than his mentor on getting to Monday night.

Dean Smith retired with 11 Final Fours, five advancements to the championship game and two NCAA titles. The losses on the last night of the season were to UCLA in 1968, Marquette in 1977 and Indiana in 1981. There were also six Final Four exits in the semifinals.

To date, Roy Williams has taken nine teams to the Final Four, five with the Tar Heels after four with Kansas. Ol’ Roy has lost thrice on semifinal Saturday and three championship games but winning three NCAA crowns, all at UNC – over Illinois, Michigan State and Gonzaga.

While Williams might have made it to the Hall of Fame anyway, cutting down the nets for the first time solidified it. He had rebuilt the Tar Heels in one season and was elected two years later. His loss to Villanova in 2016 has been rated one of the greatest title games ever.

The 2005 win in St. Louis was as heart-warming as it was gratifying. His three seniors – Jackie Manuel, Melvin Scott and Jawad Williams – had been part of UNC’s worst season ever as freshmen under Matt Doherty, and it was the storyline of that Final Four.

The 2009 championship team with Tyler Hansbrough was one of three redemption stories in Carolina history. Before making up for the ugly loss to Kansas in the 2008 semifinals, Carolina had done the same in 1982 behind James Worthy’s brilliance and MJ’s shot — and would do it again a year after the last-second loss to Villanova. Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson weren’t part of it, but they were in spirit.

The Heels dominated the Spartans in their back yard of Detroit behind Psycho T, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green – by far the best team in the country and easily one of UNC’s greatest ever. They set a record of winning all six tourney games by double figures.

The Gonzaga win in 2017 was by the sheer will of Most Outstanding Player Joel Berry, plus Justin Jackson, Theo Pinson, Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks.

And, yes, all columns this week add up to why Roy is still coaching the top program in the country.

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