Former Duke star Jay Williams says he would transfer to North Carolina

The transfer portal is a modern luxury for undergraduate student-athletes, and while many current college sports stars have utilized it, so many in the past never had that opportunity, including former Duke hooper and 2002 National Player of the Year Jay Williams.

Williams put together an incredible year in the early 2000s as a Blue Devil, earning consensus All-America honors twice as well as the Wooden Award in ’02. He’s not the type of player that typically transfers out, since he was a star player on what was one of the two or three biggest college hoops programs in the country at the time. Plus, he won a national championship in 2001 as well.

However, during the broadcast of Kansas‘ away game vs. Oklahoma State Tuesday night, for which Williams was the color analyst, his play-by-play partner Jon “Boog” Sciambi posed the question:

“If the transfer portal was open, where would you have gone?” he asked to Williams, who was shaking his head at being put on the spot.

“Setting me up,” Williams commented before explaining: “So, back then, I would have gone to Georgetown. I would have played for John Thompson. If you’re asking me today, whew, I don’t know, this is a tough one, because I don’t know if I’d be allowed to go back home.”

Sciambi jumped all over him, asking, “are you about to say North Carolina?”

Williams acknowledged that’s exactly what he was thinking. “I just like the way they play!” he exclaimed to a big “WOW” from Sciambi. Williams continued defending his choice: “It’s a fast-paced style of play, I like it. And they allow RJ Davis to go.”

Sciambi reacted with a “holy cow,” still surprised at the former Duke star’s statement.

“What?” Williams responded incredulously. “You did this to me. This is your fault,” he said to Sciambi, who then suggested the exchange would end up on the popular Twitter account Awful Announcing, which often posts clips of controversial and entertaining clips from sports announcers.

“This is straight up Awful Announcing: Jon Sciambi got Jay Williams excommunicated from the Duke family on Tuesday night.”

Already nervous about the reaction from Duke fans, Williams believes Sciambi could be correct that he gets booted from Blue Devil circle of trust altogether.

“You know, I just got back in The Brotherhood, and now, I have a feeling I’m going to be out.”

With treasonous comments like those, Jay Williams will be lucky if he’s ever allowed back inside Cameron Indoor.