Say, Roy Williams, is this the best basketball team you’ve coached at Kansas?
“No. Does that pin it down enough?” KU’s 14th-year coach said with a big grin during Wednesday’s news conference at Allen Fieldhouse.
“It’s too early to say. You’ve got to remember, folks, in ’97 we were 34-2 and we had the last shot to tie both those games we lost.”
The 1996-97 Jayhawks, who started a lineup of Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce, Jerod Haase, Scot Pollard and Jacque Vaughn, fell at Missouri, 96-94, in double overtime in Columbia, Mo., and to Arizona, 85-82, in an NCAA Sweet 16 game in Birmingham, Ala.
“It was never healthy. We played 11 games without Jacque Vaughn, nine without Scot Pollard. Jerod Haase … his last 12 games his (fractured) wrist got worse and worse and worse. Five or six days after we lost to Arizona he had his wrist operated on and it’s never been right since. That team was never healthy.”
Of course, this year’s top-ranked, 27-2 team isn’t too bad.
“Now if you ask me if all these guys come back next year and I’ve got three seniors on the team next year, then some other people better tie it on … we could really be good then,” Williams said. “Senior-dominated teams are always the best.
“Is this team the best offensive team I’ve ever coached? Yes. Is this a team that maybe has as much toughness or confidence as any team I’ve ever had? Yes, but I still think it’s too early to compare it to a team that was the best team in the country. The NCAA Tournament has not always proven what is the best team in the country.”
Player of Year: Drew Gooden this week was named Big 12 Player of the Year by both the AP and the league coaches. No argument from Williams.
“If you’d talk to our staff there’s no question Drew is player of the year. Talk to our team, no doubt they think Drew is player of the year, but if you ask my staff and ask my team who is most valuable player on the team, that would be a tough decision,” Williams said. “Drew has been fantastic, unbelievable, very consistent. His bad games are 14 points, 11 rebounds, something crazy like that. Kirk (Hinrich) supplies so much on offense and defense, handling the ball, shooting the ball. It’d be interesting to see what my team would say. We get a chance to see what they have to say after the season when they vote for MVP at the banquet.”
Injury update: Keith Langford, who hurt his back in the Missouri game, and Jeff Boschee, who sprained an ankle at practice Tuesday, were OK Wednesday and, barring any further problems, should be able to play in KU’s Big 12 Tournament opener against Nebraska or Colorado (noon, Friday, Kemper Arena).
Dougherty on Bradley’s list?: Look for KU assistant Neil Dougherty to be a hot commodity for head coaching jobs this offseason. The Peoria Journal-Star lists Dougherty a possibility to replace Jim Molinari at Bradley. Head coaches at Hampton (Steve Merfeld), Northern Illinois (Rob Judson), Winthrop (Gregg Marshall), Illinois-Chicago (Jimmy Collins), South Dakota State (Scott Nagy) are on the preliminary list with Dougherty and Texas Tech assistant Pat Knight.
Dougherty also has been mentioned as a candidate to replace Billy Tubbs at TCU. DePaul could be a possibility for Dougherty, though the Blue Demons may have their eyes on Houston coach Ray McCallum or Manhattan’s Bobby Gonzalez.
Robinson on way out: Media reports in Tallahassee, Fla., indicate Florida State coach Steve Robinson, a former KU assistant, will be fired at the end of the season.
His Seminoles carry an 11-15 record into tonight’s ACC Tournament play-in game against Clemson.
Robinson has suffered four straight losing seasons at FSU and is 68-83 in five full seasons after a successful two-year stint at Tulsa.
“He is one of the most loyal friends I have, a guy I trusted with my career and life, bringing him here when I first came here,” Williams said Wednesday, indicating he’s spoken with Robinson a lot of late. “He has a very difficult job, a tough, tough job. It is a tough time in college basketball. This time of the year some coaches start getting fired, let go, whatever term you want to use. There’s some good coaches who are not as lucky as Roy Williams.”
Not the Antlers: A member of Missouri’s Antler cheering section has informed the J-W that the sign, “For a good time, call Roy’s mom,” was not displayed by an Antler, but a fan who happened to be sitting near the Antlers at Sunday’s KU-MU game in Columbia. The MU fan, in fact, did not know Williams’ mom died of cancer several years ago. The Antlers want it known it was not their sign.
Richard Gwin/Journal-World PhotoKansas City, Mo. ? Kansas City, Mo. Roy Williams walked off a plane Wednesday night at Kansas City International Airport to a throng of television cameras and applause from a handful of fans who had driven to meet him at the airport.
The KU men’s basketball coach, just back from vacationing in South Carolina, said he was still struggling with a decision whether to remain at Kansas, where he was the winningest college coach of the 1990s, or jump to North Carolina, his alma mater.
“The last seven days have been the most difficult of my life,” he said. “I have people at both places I care a great deal about. I wish I could coach both places.”
Williams, who has been in the Carolinas with his wife, Wanda, and daughter, Kimberly, since Saturday, arrived alone Wednesday night.
He denied reports from a Durham, N.C., newspaper that he had accepted a 7-year contract to coach the Tar Heels.
“That is absolutely not true,” he said.
Williams said he would meet today with Bob Frederick, Kansas University athletics director, and Chancellor Robert Hemenway. The meeting, Frederick said, would be this morning.
Before leaving Saturday evening for the East Coast, Williams said he would not make a decision until he met face-to-face with Hemenway and Frederick.
Presumably, after today’s Frederick-Hemenway session, Williams will make his decision, tell his players, then go public.
The 12th-year KU coach said Wednesday night that he’d like to let the public know his decision before Friday but that he couldn’t guarantee he’d be able to deliver earlier.
“By Friday afternoon, I’ll know, and everybody else will know, too,” he said.
The summer recruiting period will begin Saturday, and Williams earlier promised a decision by Friday.
If Williams decides to go to North Carolina, Frederick will move quickly to find a replacement.
“We have certain procedures we have to follow, but we are prepared to move quickly if we have to,” Frederick said. “I think we can move quicker than the University of Kansas has ever moved in a similar situation.”
Already secured is a waiver from the KU equal opportunity office to bypass affirmative action hiring requirements.
Would Kansas have a new coach on board in time for Saturday’s start of recruiting?
“I don’t think so,” Frederick said. “I’m not sure we could do that.”
Still, the importance of Kansas naming a new coach isn’t lost on Frederick, a former assistant coach at Kansas, Stanford and Brigham Young.
“It’s crucial for us,” Frederick said.
KU has six scholarships available and needs a strong recruiting class after signing only one player Bryant Nash of Carrollton, Tex. this year.
Asked if he had a successor in mind, Frederick replied: “I’d rather not comment until Roy makes a decision.”
Meanwhile, all Frederick and Hemenway and Kansas University’s considerable flock of basketball fans can do is what they’ve been doing for nearly a week. Wait.
“My stomach has been in knots since last Thursday night,” Frederick said, “but I’ve been through this before.”
Not too long after Kansas won the 1988 NCAA championship, coach Larry Brown wavered between remaining at Kansas or returning to UCLA for a second coaching stint at the Los Angeles school.
Brown was having so much difficulty making a decision that he awakened Frederick at 2 a.m. and asked him to come over to his house to discuss the situation.
After telling UCLA he was coming, Brown changed his mind and remained at KU, if for a short time. About a month later, Brown accepted a lucrative post as head coach of the NBA San Antonio Spurs.
