SAN ANTONIO -- Final Four weekend caps the end of Hell Week for North Carolina Coach Roy Williams, who tonight at the Alamodome finally faces up to Kansas in a NCAA national semifinal game.
Asking Williams to play Kansas is like asking a boxer to fight his estranged brother.
Thing is, the NCAA didn't ask, as this nightmare was mandated at the point of a bracket bayonet.
It has been eight years since Williams turned down North Carolina the first time, telling a jubilant crowd at Memorial Stadium, "I'm staying!"
It has been five years since Kansas lost to Syracuse in the 2003 NCAA title game and CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein asked Williams afterward whether he was going to leave for North Carolina, and Williams told her, "I don't give a [bleep] about Carolina."
And a week later that Williams, after going 418-101 in 15 years at Kansas, left for his alma mater, without saying goodbye.
Some have forgiven Williams for leaving, but it's not a consensus.
"We boo every team we play," lifelong Kansas fan Dennis O'Bryon said as he watched Kansas practice Friday at the Alamodome. "There will be a lot of booing. And some cheering. There are a lot of mixed feelings."
Kim O'Bryon, Dennis' wife, has worked for 20 years at the University of Kansas' registrar office. She loved Williams as much as any resident of Lawrence, but there will be no confusing her allegiance.
"It would be great to beat North Carolina," she said with a wry smile.
Her husband was not as discreet. "If you say you're staying and you leave, that's just lying," Dennis said. "Don't get our hopes up. You say you're staying for the players, and then you get on a plane the next day and you go to Carolina. That's what bugs me."
Williams would rather people focus on the game and the players. North Carolina vs. Kansas is a high-pedigree pairing. The schools combined have 30 Final Four appearances and six national titles.
The game features stars such as Kansas junior guard Brandon Rush, who has fought back from knee surgery last year, and North Carolina junior forward Tyler Hansbrough, this year's consensus national player of the year.
Yet, Williams v. Kansas has enveloped the action. The sign over the men's restroom at a barbershop in Lawrence still reads "Roy's Room," with a sketch of Williams moved in 2003 to a position nearer the toilet.
If you don't think this bothers Williams, you're wrong.
