June 14, 2004

By Adam Lucas

Roy Williams is tired and his golf game stinks.

And he can't wait for the 2004-05 basketball season.

Of those three, the only surprise is his performance on the links. This is usually about the time of year when the Tar Heel head coach is starting to look like a U.S. Open contender, but a hectic schedule has given him limited opportunities to pursue his favorite non-basketball passion.

In addition to the usual coaches' meetings, Rams Club events, and recruiting duties, Williams had to make some additional stops this spring when it became apparent that he needed to discuss NBA opportunities with two members of his recruiting class--Marvin Williams and J.R. Smith.

Marvin Williams, who arrived on campus this weekend and will attend summer school, made it clear that he intended to come to college. Smith wanted more information, which the Carolina coach was happy to provide.

"I talked with nine or ten NBA teams myself and told J.R. where I thought he'd be drafted and where that number would be on the salary scale," Roy Williams told the media Monday morning. "I went there to give him all the information and said, 'Tell me what you're going to do and I'm with you.'"

Smith ultimately decided to enter the NBA Draft, where he is likely to be a first-round pick on June 24.

Most of his would-be teammates are in Chapel Hill this week, working as counselors for the first session of Carolina Basketball School, which has been condensed from three sessions to two. That roster includes Marvin Williams and fellow freshman Quentin Thomas, both of whom arrived in Chapel Hill this weekend and were immediately thrown into the nightly Smith Center pickup game ritual.

Although the duo can receive plenty of tutelage from their teammates and alums who populate the games, the great NCAA-induced irony is that they can receive very little instruction from the North Carolina coaches. Rules prohibit Roy Williams from watching the players play pickup games in the summer or providing any in-depth coaching tips.

"The upperclassmen understand what we want and how we expect them to put their arms around those guys," Williams said. "Last year we were all new at this and it was every man for himself. That's human nature...This year, I think we'll be able to teach Marvin and Quentin from Level One all the way up and some of the guys that are at Level Five or Six will be able to help them get up to speed a little quicker."

The Tar Heel coaching staff will spend this week with the approximately 600 campers who are skittering around the Smith Center. From there, Williams's schedule intensifies. After a six-day break the first week of July that will include his annual beach trip over the Fourth of July, he'll attend a meeting in Indianapolis on July 7, recruit from the 8th through the 17th, speak at the North Carolina coaches' clinic on July 19, stop in Lawrence on the way to Las Vegas to help get his daughter ready to move to North Carolina, spend three days in Vegas, and then assemble in Florida on July 25 for the opening preparations with the Olympic team, for which he will serve as an assistant coach to head coach (and former Heel) Larry Brown. After a month with that team, he'll be back in Chapel Hill on August 30, just in time for the usual Labor Day gathering of Carolina coaches from across the basketball spectrum.

It's enough to make almost anyone weary. But watching the coach on Monday, there appeared to be a change in his appearance from last year at this same time. Then, after making the emotional decision to leave Kansas for Carolina, he looked tired and conflicted. Now, he just seems tired and excited.

"I wish we were starting basketball practice here tomorrow," he said. "I'm really enthused about recruiting. I enjoy the summer recruiting period. I watch ten games a day. People thought I was a little wacko in Las Vegas last year, because I'd be sure to be the first coach in the gym in the morning, and then at 12:10 at night, I'd look around to see if there were any head coaches around. If I saw one, I'd wait around to see if he might leave. When the time comes for me to stop coaching, it will never be because of burnout, because I'm doing exactly what I want to do."

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.