2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship

Syracuse Regional

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams quotes prior to UNC’s regional final versus Wisconsin

Could I ask you about the defense?.  How much better is it and have the guys bought in more this year than last year?

“You know, that question has been asked a couple of different ways.  I think they bought into what we were saying last year, but we had to continue drilling it so much. I think that's another reason that we are much better defensively this year.  We had another year to work on it and basically the same team.  We should be better, and I'm hoping after practice in awhile we'll be better tomorrow than we were last night, but the kids understand how important the defensive end of the court is, and I told them during the pre‑season, I have never seen a team make it to the Final Four and definitely not win a championship that wasn't a real good team defensively.  Make sure you understand.”

Some people say Marvin Williams is the best sixth man in the country.  Some people say he's the best basketball player in the country.  Given all of the egos and personalities that go into a team, how you have been able to keep him in that role and keep everybody happy, and the team as good as it can be?

“I think the kids partially answered that themselves because we're only concerned about the team, and it was something that's been a two‑year process in selling them on that idea and they've bought into that completely.  Marvin Williams is one of the nicest youngsters that I have ever been around in my entire life.  Thirty years from now, if somebody mentioned the name Marvin Williams to me, it will bring a smile to my face.  And I think that the other part of it is he just wants to win.  His high school team did not win as much as he wanted to and he has won more games this year than he did the last two years together in high school. That part is something else.  But he sees that Sean and Jawad have had pretty good years as well.  And so he's accepted his role, and he knows that he is extremely important.  And last night, he played more minutes than Jawad did even though Jawad started.  So I have never been hung up on who starts.”

Roy, on a good team, you hope that there is no one player who is indispensable but given everything that Raymond does for you on both ends of the floor, is he the closest thing that you've got to a player who is indispensable?

“Probably the closest thing that I've had in 17 years as head coach.  I really believe that, but I loved what Melvin and the other guys do too.  During the part when he was out after we found out we were not qoing as smooth but during the first part, I did love what they did, but I would hate to think where we would be without Raymond and yet if we had put Quentin and Melvin out there and tell them they have to do it, maybe they would have done even better themselves, but he’s a phenomenal player for us on both ends.”

Given what he does he sets tempo for you on both ends of the court.  Doesn't that make him more important?

“Yes, but one of the most amazing statistics to me is that coming into the tournament at least, we were leading the nation in scoring in, and in the last half of the games the people have tried to control the tempo so we are used to that part of it. Yesterday, they controlled tempo with dribble penetration.  Tomorrow, it's controlling tempo with the pass.  And I love the way Wisconsin plays.  I love the way they compete on the defensive end of the floor.  They share the ball on the offensive end of the floor.  I mean, they outrebound their opponents. To me I love going up and down, but if I did not really like a fast, fast tempo, I would like to go and sit  in Bo's office for a month and figure out how to coach like that because I would love to coach like that.”

Five years ago, you expressed some dislike for Wisconsin's style of play.  Has it changed under Bo?

“No. Everybody their opinions, but in my opinion, it was not anything directed at Wisconsin.  Dick Bennett is one of the guys that I admire as much as anybody in coaching.  Last summer I had a great morning.  Went downstairs and he was sitting there and we sat down and talked for a while.  And I love the defensive play that Dick's teams always had. I love how they shared the basketball.  I can say the same thing with Bo. That statement was against the officials.  I'm getting in trouble probably with the officials now.  But I just think the game had gotten so physical, that it was hard to make a cut.  Let me back up.  It is not against the official, it was the way the games were being called, okay.  So we were on the rules committee.  We had talked the summer before about we need to get some of the physical play out of it.  And that one game, and I made probably inappropriate remarks about the score of that game, and I can't even remember now what, 19 or 18, whatever it was, that kind of thing.  But it was interpreted as against that style of play

and that was not it.  And Dick understood it.  I mean, Dick and I had a talk about it and he understood it as well.  But I would say this right here, if I didn't have a team that would, that I felt like could really run up and down, I would like to play the way Bo coaches and I would like to play the way Dick coached at that time because they share the ball and they guard your rear end.  But I just think that our college game had gotten too physical at that time. but it wasn't.  The Wisconsin people, they would never believe that because they booed me quite a bit a couple of years later,but Dick knows how I feel and Bo knows how I feel too.  The last time was just this past summer.  We sat at the Nike All-American camp in Indiana downstairs in the hotel lobby. I had gotten back from my run and it was before the game started.  I spoke to Dick after my comment at that point just to tell him to make sure he understood that I had a great deal of respect for him.  And I do, and I do right now with Bo and I have for several years even before he came back to Wisconsin.”

You said last night when you came in here that you thought Villanova's coach did a better job more or less than you did.  Can you specifically talk about what you meant by that?

“You watch the first three or four possessions of the game and I told our guys, they are going to come after us.  It is going to be aggressive.  It is going to be physical and it is not going to be, you know, any casual approach.  And I don't remember if it was the first play or second play, but a shot was taken, and Raymond sort of patted the ball down to the ground like he was going to take off to other end and their kid dove for it and ref called it out of bounds on Raymond.  A few minutes later  Sean went up and got a rebound and thought the battle was over with and their kid came up and knocked it loose.  I did a poor job.  I said what it was and what I meant, but I didn't get them to understand.  And later on, I got on Sean again at one time because he caught the ball and he's got the ball down low and he's looking this way.  Well, you know, there's 360° in basketball court that somebody can be around you and he's looking over here, and somebody comes from this side and knocks it loose.  And so at that point, we were more casual and more careless than we needed to be.  And I thought without Sumpter, I thought that Jay had their team at an emotional and mental high, and a level that we were not at.”

How did you sleep last night, and was there anything that you replayed in your head or was it all water under the bridge?

“These press conferences are really deteriorating when you want to know how the hell I sleep at night.  I didn't sleep.  I don't ever sleep.  So that was no big deal.  Went to bed for about an hour and got up and took a hot shower to see if that would help and went back to bed.  But three or four hours is about all I can handle at this time of the year anyway.  It's a lot more comfortable when I'm thinking about holes I birdied and stuff like that.”

Zack is a Missouri kid that grew up loving Kansas.  Did you ever cross paths with him in those days? What do you know about him?

“I did not cross paths with him.  Maybe my staff did, but I did not and after watching him shoot, if I'm not mistaken, he's about 50% from the three‑point line.  I wish I had paid more attention.  But that's a wonderful area of the country that they love their basketball in, Kansas.  The attention and the passion that people have for basketball there is shared by a lot of people.”

Your players talk about working on the little things at this point of the year.  What are those little things?

“Last night, we talked about it at halftime. We were down four and missed the last four or five opportunities at the free throw line. A free throw is a free throw, so to step up to the line and not make your free throws is a little part of the game. Calling out a switch.  One time it was a perfect switch and one guy didn't say anything, and the other guy thought he was going to switch and now all of a sudden we got two guys guarding a guy that doesn't have the ball, and it's a very simple thing.  Just call out the switch and you have one of your guys that gets one of theirs in both situations.  But communication I think is something that is a little thing, but it is extremely important.  So those are the two things we talked about at halftime.”

I asked Jawad about being the only ACC team still standing and Big Ten clubs have had a hand in that.  He shoots the idea down.  But, the fact that Wisconsin beat N.C. State, does that help you get the guys' attention?

“You know, I can't speak for all of the kids but, I mean, if we have to think of things to get their attention in the round of eight, my gosh, we're in a sorry situation.  So I'm a North Carolina fan.  If you separate me from that, I'm an ACC fan.  But let's make sure that you understand, I'm a North Carolina fan.  And I think that that's what the kids mean, they have to be concerned about our own thing.  And I would love it if we have four ACC teams at the Final Four.  But I don't really care as long as we win.  So let's not be sitting up here and be a phony.  I'm not going to sit up here and say rah-rah ACC.  If I have an option, there’s no question I'll pull for the ACC, but you are so consumed about what you are doing, you don't have a lot of time.  Don't go back and make a big deal of what I said, just understand, you are so consumed. We got back to the hotel, it was almost 2:00 in the morning.  And I'm not going to sit there and watch the Duke tape and North Carolina State tape.  I'm not going to do that and that doesn't mean that I'm being disloyal.  You don't have time to worry about other people.  You are consumed with your own self right now, and I don't think that's being selfish.  When I get back after it is over with I'll say, ‘Gosh, our league had a great year,’ and I do believe that.  But I think it's unfair to expect, particularly the kids, to have any feelings towards anybody else.  You're just trying to survive and advance as Jimmy Valvano said.”

You talked earlier about Marvin Williams.  Why did you decide not to start him earlier in the season and even as he's improved throughout the year?

“It was not what was best for our team.  Jawad has struggled lately since he's gotten hurt, but has not necessarily hurt us by having Marvin come off the bench.  He had 20, 20 and 16 coming off the bench.  It is hard to play 40 minutes a game anyway, but I think you have to look at what's best for your team.  I made this statement a minute ago, in '93, I had a guy that made second-team all-conference and never started. I started another kid who needed to start.  And this kid could come off the bench or start so I had two players.  If I had started the kid that could play anyway, I would have lost the other kid so that's not what is best for our team.  I don't think I would have that here because I think that Jawad particularly would handle it either way because he's a senior and he's been through a lot of tough times, and so to me, it was better for our team, and initial stage of the season, he was more ready than Marvin was.  You look down through there and it's, we've been fairly successful with Jawad in the lineup.  Folks, I can't have too much more time because I have practice in a minute.”

I was just talking to a couple of your players about what it means when some of the old Carolina players come back and they specifically remembered Jordan's visit.  And him talking about that he felt that this could be a special team.  And I was just wondering if you could give me a little insight as to how that came about that Michael came down that day and what you think that means, when players like that come back.

“Do you want the truth or do you want me to give you a good story? Michael was really concerned about how our team was doing and thought if he came back and gave us motivation, he's so gracious at that.  Or you can say the truth that he was on his way to Florida and needed to stop in the Chapel Hill area and get a golf lesson, and since he was there, he decided to come over and watch practice.  You can figure it any way that you want to.  But he did call and ask if he could come to practice and I said let me think about that a minute.  And so there's no question that he was traveling, wanted to get through and in fact, he was coming to one of the games this year and his son's team won a game, and had an extra practice put in there and so he was not able to come. I had four tickets set aside for him and the whole bit but, he was coming down, wanted to come and watch us practice, tied in a golf lesson with that and was gracious enough to talk to my team a bit after practice.  And I think he's the greatest player that ever lived.  And the kids nowadays still see some of those videos and still remember it too.”

How much credit do you deserve for turning this team around from where it was a couple of years ago?

“I think the biggest part of it is the kids maturity.  I really believe that.  And I have been on record as saying this.  I think if Sean May doesn't break his foot his freshman year, Matt Dougherty would have still been the coach there.  I have always felt very comfortable in getting kids to play as a team.  I've always been very comfortable as a coach, and I've got the best staff of anybody in the world.  But I think just saying that we're here because of me as, that's so far off base, that's like saying I birdie every hole.  I may tell a lie every now and then and say I birdied one or two. The kids’ maturity, and the kids working hard, and the kids understanding over the offseason what we asked them to work on, and how important it would be to this team, and the vision that we had and the picture we saw if they would do that, but still, they are the ones that have to work.  They are the ones that have to put in this sweat.  And I'm not being humble, I'm being truthful.”

You mentioned earlier how Wisconsin likes to control tempo with the passing.  Could you go a little deeper into that and how it differs from let's say, N.C. State, and what a bunch of other teams have tried against you?

“Last night, particularly, Villanova would spread you, but they want to beat you with dribble penetration.  They want to get you into the lane and fake up and spin back and get a foul or, get you to drop back in there and pitch back out to the shooter for three.  Wisconsin has constant movement.  They are moving guys around and they are also trying to have one post player inside that they are trying to get the ball and they can change who that post player may be.  But, they are moving the ball around with the pass much more so.  They can still hurt you on dribble penetration.  But that is not the whole game with them.  And this is not meant to be a cut towards Villanova by any means, but we had to control dribble penetration last night.  And the level that we controlled it was going to determine whether we won or lost the game.  Now, if we controlled dribble penetration against Wisconsin, they are still going to move the basketball to pass.  So I think it is different.”

Your players talk a lot about the respect that they have for you because of all of the success that you've had.  Do you ever use the times that you have been on the wrong end of upsets as a teacher and motivational tool for them?

“I try to deal with so much more on the positive side.  Somebody asked a question last night if I had flashbacks to a game and did I go back and look so I know what year it was.  My answer to him is that at the time, I'm working. I'm not thinking about something that happened that long ago.  And during the course of coaching, you bring out good memories and you bring out bad memories and try to get them to see a picture.  And if something from a bad memory helps them to see a picture, I don't mind using that.  There is no question.  With this team, with most teams, I try to be very positive and coach this team, and I do. I have said and I did say to Sean last night, I have coached quite a bit and to stick with me on this one, and I'm not nearly as good a rebounder as you are, but I've seen a lot more basketball.  And I think that that's the way I try to coach is to be very positive and use all of the experiences, whether they have been good or bad.”