LOOK: Roy Williams makes appearance at Big 12 game, sports team apparel
Former UNC head coach Roy Williams, now in his first year of retirement, is taking in some Big 12 basketball tonight at West Virginia, and he came wearing Mountaineers gear, much to the amusement of West Virginia fans in attendance.
Williams retired with 903 wins as a head coach, in a multi-decade career that saw him serve as the head coach at Kansas and at UNC. Huggins, who has coached at Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State and West Virginia, recently passed Williams in late 2021, and he’s since worked his way well up into the 900’s, as Huggins has 913 career wins.
Williams won three NCAA National Championship titles while at UNC, taking home the honor in 2005, 2009 and 2017, while making it to nine NCAA Final Four appearances over the course of his head coaching career: four with Kansas and five with UNC. He helped lead the Tar Heels to nine regular-season ACC titles and three ACC Tournament titles, in addition to four Big 12 regular-season titles and three Big 12 Tournament titles while with Kansas.
Huggins, a future Hall of Fame coach in his own regard, has led his alma mater West Virginia to the 2010 Final Four, roughly 20 years after he led the Cincinnati Bearcats to the Final Four in 1992.
West Virginia (13-9, 2-7) is playing host to the Iowa State Cyclones tonight (16-7, 3-7).
According to an article on WV Sports Now, Williams has been traveling around the country this year, his first year of retirement, making up for lost time by watching former players in the NBA and taking in scenes across the college basketball landscape. It notes that one spot he was looking to check off his bucket list was the WVU Coliseum, and tonight, Williams finally made good on that wish, West Virginia apparel and all.
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Williams’ heir, Hubert Davis, gives high praise to Duke
North Carolina basketball coach Hubert Davis believes Duke presents a challenge few others teams in the country do. In his postgame press conference following a 87-67 loss to the Blue Devils, Davis was extremely complimentary of freshmen Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin.
“There is a number of talented teams in the country and Duke is one of them,” the coach said. “Paolo, his ability from an offensive standpoint to create his shot not only for himself, but for his teammates on the perimeter or in the post is something that very few teams in the country have. AJ is in a really nice rhythm now not only shooting the ball from 3, but being able to get into his spots. He’s a big wing. He’s athletic and he can get to his spots any time. Both of those guys are really good. They have a really good basketball team.”
Banchero and Griffin combined for 40 points in the victory against the Tar Heels on Saturday. The two freshman phenoms are projected top 10 picks in the upcoming NBA draft according to CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone. Griffin in particular has been on a tear of late, averaging 16.4 points over the past five games. That is well above his season average of 9.9.
Duke currently holds first place in the ACC, with a half-game lead on Notre Dame. The Blue Devils are 19-3 on the year and have won seven of their past eight games. They were listed as a two seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology, which was released on Feb. 4.