Williams has old, and new, business

Roy Williams is coaching against Kansas -- anyone think that might be a story line?

It took a lot of bracket work for this to play out.

North Carolina, top-seeded in the East, had to work its way through Mount St. Mary’s, Arkansas, Washington State and Louisville.

Kansas, seeded No. 1 in the Midwest, defeated Portland State, Nevada Las Vegas, Villanova and Davidson to reach the Final Four.

Williams coached Kansas for 15 seasons, often to the brink of tournament greatness, before leaving in 2003 to coach North Carolina. Two years later, Williams led the Tar Heels to their first national title in the post-Dean Smith era.

“If I was ever going to play Kansas again this is the only way I would want it to happen,” Williams said. “If fact, I wish it would happen on Monday instead of Saturday.”

North Carolina (36-2) faces Kansas (35-3) on Saturday in a national semifinal in San Antonio.

Williams recognized the jerseys when he watched tape of Kansas’ two-point win over Davidson on Sunday.

“I didn’t watch it all because I didn’t want to watch all the commercials,” Williams said. “But it was a great game to watch as a fan.”

What about as a coach?

“They’re a great team,” he said of the Jayhawks. “I’ve said it all year. I’m so impressed with what they’re doing defensively and the balanced scoring. They can play slow, fast, defend, score with inside shooting and score outside.”

Williams said he thinks this the most talented Final Four field he has seen.

In terms of toughness, he said it compared with the West Regional field in 2003, in Anaheim, when his last Kansas team beat Duke in one semifinal and Arizona defeated Notre Dame in the other. Kansas won the regional with a victory over Arizona and ultimately lost to Syracuse in the national title game.

“I think this is a Final Four that, who knows what the game is going to be because those teams are so good defensively . . . ,” Williams said. “It could end up being ugly games, but they’re awfully talented teams out there.”

-- Chris Dufresne