Take 10 paces, turn and fire at will…

Perhaps the Alamodome is the perfect locale for the almost gunslinger like matchup between Carolina and Kansas as Ole Roy faces off for the first time against his former employer. Carolina fan will want to see the Heels win for all the obvious reasons. For Kansas fan however this is a game with extraordinary symbolic meaning. Much like a spurned lover the KU ‘fan (or is it Phan) base’ just cannot get over the fact that ole Roy left them for the one who he loved all along.

I can kind of understand where Jayhawk fan is coming from, after all UNC felt the same pain after Mack Brown left for Texas. But then again most Carolina fans got over that one pretty quickly because it’s well…Carolina football, and for the few (like me) who were not over it Mack’s trip to Chapel Hill in 2002 served as a fine example of why he had to move on.
It would be silly of course to judge both of those situations as being equal in merit. KU was and continues to be in the top realm of the college basketball world, it would be even if Roy Williams had never stepped on campus. UNC football has always been and will probably always be a 2nd class citizen in Chapel Hill. Not that football has become king in Kansas, but it is interesting to see just how many posters on Phogg.net consider themselves to be a legit football power, which is something I am sure will make the USC’s of the world snicker. Kind of like if Davidson starts chirping that they are among the elite of college basketball just because of one run deep into the tournament. FSU says for Kansas to call when they finish in the top 5 fifteen years in a row.

But I digress….

The real comparison is that Kansas supporter is still bitter as a cyanide pill about the whole thing. Kansas fan is of the opinion that Roy owed them forever for the opportunity that he was given. Also I am surprised just how much venom is directed towards Dean Smith for never ‘coming back’ and there is also an opinion of a lot of Kansas internet loonies that Dean slights the Jayhawk mystique by not giving Phogg Allen what they feel to be proper credit for his development. There are also a lot of KU fans who think that Roy did not give the fans their proper respect for the support they give to the program when going out the door.

Whatever….

KU fan really needs to get a grip. Bill Self has skippered the program right along without any real drop off. Sure there were a couple of surprising tournament losses, but then again Roy had his share. Some out in the flatlands consider UNC to be the beneficiary of the hard tournament lessons Roy’s KU teams had to endure from time to time. And sure Roy was handed the reins to a team coming off a national title, but also which was heading straight onto probation thanks to another UNC alum Larry Brown. But longtime residents around here will realize that Danny and the Miracles never occur without old Larry hiring Danny Manning’s father as an ‘assistant’. I can guarantee you that if UNC has Danny Manning instead of say…Dave Popson, then UNC probably gets past the roadblocks that derailed the Tarheel express on a frustratingly yearly bases back in that era of bad hair that was the mid to late 1980’s. Not to mention the shoo in of a state title Danny’s departure cost Mac Morris! To be honest there is a hate vibe from the KU contingent in this matchup, unlike UNC-Duke or Yankees-Red Sox hate it is not of familiarity but more like speaking bad of the guy who snubbed you at the company Christmas party.

Sadly for KU fan the bitterness will not be likely to dissipate because I honestly think that when I remove my baby blue tinted sunglasses that UNC is just the better ball club. Not that KU is not outstanding, they are, just that Carolina can beat you just a little bit better in a little more variety of ways. Perhaps KU has a bit more balance and depth out of the backcourt. But no one with the explosiveness of Lawson or the ability to provide the scoring punch of Ellison. Kansas is very deep with a lot of bodies that can provide quality minutes. But they lack the versatility of a Ginyard or Danny Green. And much like Paul Simon the Heels have an ‘ace in the hole’ in Tyler Hansbrough, there is no one who wants it more and that intensity has carried the Heels thru some rough stretches, without his intensity (and 20 2nd half points) there is no way UNC would have taken down a very talented Louisville team. By the end of the evening Psycho T may just have Darrell Arthur looking more like Arthur Murray and Sasha Kaun looking like Sasha Coen. The brouhaha that is Roy V. KU is something that will not affect either team either way because none of the particulars are still playing in those uniforms, that sort of thing is for the fans which means San Antonio’s finest will have their hands full this weekend because there is a bar brawl just waiting to happen from all the Chardonnay and Schlitz that the respective fan bases will be indulging.

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