Shut up, Roy
North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams said Sunday’s 65-60 loss to George Mason in the second round of the NCAA tournament was one of the most disappointing games of his career.
Apparently, ol’ Roy’s memory is slipping as he gets older. His University of Kansas teams disappointed Jayhawk fans in the NCAA tournament plenty of times.
Roy lost seven players from UNC’s 2005 national championship team and not a lot was expected of this year’s young team, so how is it possible that this ranked as one of the most disappointing losses of the coach who cries at the end of every single season?
Maybe Roy already has forgotten his ups and downs at KU. To refresh your memory, he posted a 418-101 record in 15 years, won nine conference championships and made it to four Final Fours (losing twice in the title game). He also had plenty of disappointments.
1990
KU started Roy’s second season at KU with 19 straight victories, including wins over Shaq’s LSU squad, national power UNLV and St. John’s on its home floor in the NIT. The Jayhawks’ backcourt included two starting guards from coach Larry Brown’s 1988 national championship team, Kevin Pritchard and Jeff Gueldner, and transfer Ricky Calloway had been a starting forward on Indiana’s 1987 national title team. You would think an experienced team like that would handle the stress of March Madness. You would be wrong.
Kansas, which was ranked No. 1 or No. 2 for 13 weeks, lost three of its last six games and finished 30-5. After a 100-78 loss to Oklahoma in the next-to-last game of the regular season, the Sooners trounced KU again, 95-77, in the Big Eight tournament.
The worst was yet to come. Seventh-seeded UCLA ousted second-seeded KU in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
It was a disappointing end to a great season.
1992
After winning his first Big Eight crown and making it to the national title game in 1991, Roy had starters Adonis Jordan and Alonzo Jamison returning in 1992 and also added Northwestern transfer Rex Walters. The Jayhawks (27-5) were ranked second in the final regular-season AP poll, repeated as Big Eight champs and won the Big Eight tournament.
Then they flopped. Again. Ninth-seeded UTEP beat top-seeded KU, 66-60, in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Pretty disappointing.
1995
The Big Eight champs (25-6) had three future NBA players (Raef LaFrentz, Jacque Vaughn and Greg Ostertag) in the starting lineup and a fourth (Scot Pollard) on the bench. The Jayhawks, ranked fifth in the final AP poll, made it past the second round this time and advanced to their home-away-from home, Kansas City’s Kemper Arena … where fourth-seeded Virginia handed top-seeded KU a 67-58 loss in the Sweet 16.
Disappointing.
1997
I’ll overlook the 1996 season – when second-seeded KU lost to fourth-seeded Syracuse in the regional final, costing me a free trip to the Final Four in New York – because 1997 was so much worse by comparison. Roy might say it was his most disappointing loss, if he weren’t such a freaking liar.
The 1997 Hawks had four future NBA players (LaFrentz, Vaughn, Pollard and Paul Pierce) in their starting lineup. They won their first 22 games before suffering a double-overtime loss at Missouri on a last-second, fluke play.
The top-ranked, top-seeded Jayhawks suffered an 85-82 loss to eventual national champion Arizona in the Sweet 16. KU might have been able to force overtime if Vaughn, a senior point guard, had the guts to take an open 3-pointer in the final seconds. He passed instead.
Kansas finished 34-2.
Stunningly disappointing.
1998
Pollard, Vaughn and Jerod Haase, who were seniors in 1997, never made it to the Final Four. Neither did LaFrentz and Pierce, whose top-seeded and second-ranked Jayhawks were bounced 80-75 by eighth-seeded Rhode Island in the second round.
KU, which won its seventh conference title in eight years and the league’s postseason tourney, finished 35-4.
Even more stunning and disappointing.
2003
Three years after he said no to North Carolina and added that he wouldn’t leave Kansas unless he was dead, fired or retired, Roy led KU back to the national championship game and a second straight Final Four. The Jayhawks missed 18 free throws in an 81-78 loss to Syracuse.
After the game, squeaky-clean Roy said on live TV that he didn’t “give a shit” about the vacant job at North Carolina. A few days later, he was on a plane to Chapel Hill.
And that was the biggest disappointment of all.
Apparently, ol’ Roy’s memory is slipping as he gets older. His University of Kansas teams disappointed Jayhawk fans in the NCAA tournament plenty of times.
Roy lost seven players from UNC’s 2005 national championship team and not a lot was expected of this year’s young team, so how is it possible that this ranked as one of the most disappointing losses of the coach who cries at the end of every single season?
Maybe Roy already has forgotten his ups and downs at KU. To refresh your memory, he posted a 418-101 record in 15 years, won nine conference championships and made it to four Final Fours (losing twice in the title game). He also had plenty of disappointments.
1990
KU started Roy’s second season at KU with 19 straight victories, including wins over Shaq’s LSU squad, national power UNLV and St. John’s on its home floor in the NIT. The Jayhawks’ backcourt included two starting guards from coach Larry Brown’s 1988 national championship team, Kevin Pritchard and Jeff Gueldner, and transfer Ricky Calloway had been a starting forward on Indiana’s 1987 national title team. You would think an experienced team like that would handle the stress of March Madness. You would be wrong.
Kansas, which was ranked No. 1 or No. 2 for 13 weeks, lost three of its last six games and finished 30-5. After a 100-78 loss to Oklahoma in the next-to-last game of the regular season, the Sooners trounced KU again, 95-77, in the Big Eight tournament.
The worst was yet to come. Seventh-seeded UCLA ousted second-seeded KU in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
It was a disappointing end to a great season.
1992
After winning his first Big Eight crown and making it to the national title game in 1991, Roy had starters Adonis Jordan and Alonzo Jamison returning in 1992 and also added Northwestern transfer Rex Walters. The Jayhawks (27-5) were ranked second in the final regular-season AP poll, repeated as Big Eight champs and won the Big Eight tournament.
Then they flopped. Again. Ninth-seeded UTEP beat top-seeded KU, 66-60, in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Pretty disappointing.
1995
The Big Eight champs (25-6) had three future NBA players (Raef LaFrentz, Jacque Vaughn and Greg Ostertag) in the starting lineup and a fourth (Scot Pollard) on the bench. The Jayhawks, ranked fifth in the final AP poll, made it past the second round this time and advanced to their home-away-from home, Kansas City’s Kemper Arena … where fourth-seeded Virginia handed top-seeded KU a 67-58 loss in the Sweet 16.
Disappointing.
1997
I’ll overlook the 1996 season – when second-seeded KU lost to fourth-seeded Syracuse in the regional final, costing me a free trip to the Final Four in New York – because 1997 was so much worse by comparison. Roy might say it was his most disappointing loss, if he weren’t such a freaking liar.
The 1997 Hawks had four future NBA players (LaFrentz, Vaughn, Pollard and Paul Pierce) in their starting lineup. They won their first 22 games before suffering a double-overtime loss at Missouri on a last-second, fluke play.
The top-ranked, top-seeded Jayhawks suffered an 85-82 loss to eventual national champion Arizona in the Sweet 16. KU might have been able to force overtime if Vaughn, a senior point guard, had the guts to take an open 3-pointer in the final seconds. He passed instead.
Kansas finished 34-2.
Stunningly disappointing.
1998
Pollard, Vaughn and Jerod Haase, who were seniors in 1997, never made it to the Final Four. Neither did LaFrentz and Pierce, whose top-seeded and second-ranked Jayhawks were bounced 80-75 by eighth-seeded Rhode Island in the second round.
KU, which won its seventh conference title in eight years and the league’s postseason tourney, finished 35-4.
Even more stunning and disappointing.
2003
Three years after he said no to North Carolina and added that he wouldn’t leave Kansas unless he was dead, fired or retired, Roy led KU back to the national championship game and a second straight Final Four. The Jayhawks missed 18 free throws in an 81-78 loss to Syracuse.
After the game, squeaky-clean Roy said on live TV that he didn’t “give a shit” about the vacant job at North Carolina. A few days later, he was on a plane to Chapel Hill.
And that was the biggest disappointment of all.
posted by David at 9:22 AM
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