The former Kansas University basketball coach has found time to fulfill grandpa duties with his son, Scott, and daughter-in-law Katie’s two sons, Aiden (6) and Court (4).

“He is an off-the-charts grandpa,” 1995 Lawrence High and 1999 UNC graduate Scott Williams told the Journal-World Sunday in a phone conversation from Texas. “The mornings we’ve been here, we’ve dropped the boys off with pops early in the morning so Katie and I could get a run in together. He’s taken the reins.”

What the heck has 13th-year UNC coach Roy — he spent 15 seasons at KU — been doing with his grandkids in the early a.m. hours in Houston?

Not watching game films, that’s for sure.

“They’ll play card games, go out and run around the grass. There’s a nice little pool-side area at the hotel. Actually, I don’t ask questions. As long as he takes ’em off my hands and Katie’s hands and lets us go have some peace and quiet to ourselves, we don’t ask,” Scott said, laughing.

On a serious note, Aiden and Court’s gramps today can become the sixth coach in NCAA history to win three national hoops titles. By beating ‘Nova, Roy would join John Wooden (10), Mike Krzyzewski (5), Adolph Rupp (4), Bob Knight (3) and Jim Calhoun (3) as three-time champion mentors.

“I don’t think it is as big a deal to him as it probably is to the rest of us,” Scott Williams said. “I think the takeaway for him is if that comes about it’ll be the way they did it — with the kids they did it with. Inevitably with any team there will be somebody who is a little pain, a little nuisance. I don’t get that feeling with this team. It reminds me some of those early 90s Kansas teams (that) I don’t think were as gifted as maybe some teams out there, but gosh they play their tails off together.”

Scott thinks his dad enjoys coaching this team so much, there’s absolutely no way he’ll ride off into the sunset at the age of 65 and retire if the Heels win tonight.

“The NCAA stuff … clearly he’s said there’s no way he’d leave until there is resolution there,” Scott Williams said of an inquiry into an academic scandal encompassing the entire UNC athletic department. “I think he’s found such an immense amount of joy with this team, I just don’t see any chance of him leaving. I think this team more so than probably any I can remember has re-energized him. He loves the kids.”

Reports of Roy’s health problems are “greatly exaggerated,” said Scott, who is a bond salesman in Charlotte. His sister, LHS and UNC grad Kimberly, owns a dance studio in the same city.

“The attack of vertigo on the court this year? The only difference between that one and the rest he’s had is it happened on national TV,” Scott said. Roy Williams had vertigo problems dating back to his KU days. “His knees are not in good shape. That’s obvious. You see him hobbling out there. He doesn’t run anymore. They are painful but that is not something that will ever stop him from doing what he wants to do. Has the off the court stuff been difficult? Sure. That obviously will affect stress level. But my guess is he’ll have surgery on his knees and maybe knee replacement this summer and hopefully it’ll all be taken care of,” Scott added.

Scott did reveal his one wish for his dad.

“Honestly, I want him to go take a Div. III baseball coaching job. I think baseball was always his love,” Scott said. “I want him to coach third base for some school completely off the grid. To show up at practice which he loves and maybe coach third during the game. I always say do it at Brevard College up in the mountains. Maybe we could talk to the head coach and see if he has a spot open for him. I think he’d love it at that level. That’s my unrealistic dream for him. I think he’d have a ball doing it,” added Scott, who knows the more likely scenario is his pops coaching at UNC into his 70s.

Maker off market: Thon Maker, a 7-foot center from Sudan who had KU on his list of prospective schools, will attempt to enter the 2016 NBA Draft, bleacherreport.com and draftexpress.com report. Maker, 19, who plays at Athlete Institute in Canada, believes he is draft-eligible because he reportedly graduated high school in Canada in June of 2015 and is in his fifth year of high school. The NBA collective-bargaining agreement states a player is eligible for the draft if the player is 19 and one year removed from high school. He may not have had his credentials approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse.