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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL FOUR

March 27, 2017

Roy Williams

Phoenix, Arizona

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by North Carolina head coach Roy Williams.

COACH WILLIAMS: Roy Williams.

Q. Don't know if you want to get retrospective or not. What does the Final Four mean, obviously you've been to nine, but is this one any more special particularly how last year's ended?
COACH WILLIAMS: I think getting introspective means that both you and I have been around a long time. But it is something that each and every one is different. I think I get just as excited -- if we can have a different ending than we did last year, there's no question it will feel great.

But if we have the same ending, it means we still played until the last second of the last game. But the players, after the season was over last year, we got together. We talked to them. They used it as a little motivation, a little fuel to work really hard in the offseason. I told them then give us a chance and we'll try to make us a good team and believe in what the coaches are doing.

And I think they continued that. And as we get closer, the media makes, probably asks us more questions than I know our staff talks about. Now, the players, they get on the social media, they talk about -- I have no idea because I'm not on social media at all. But as far as satisfaction, I think each one gets more satisfying, because I think I realize even every year how much harder it is to get there.

Q. I'm shocked you're not on social media.
COACH WILLIAMS: Yeah, right.

Q. Are you surprised at how you can still relate and coach millennials, even though you're not ancient, but I mean it's a different generation. Are you sometimes surprised that you're still able to relate to these kids?
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, you better ask them if I do relate. I tell them all the time I am not of their generation. And I am happy that I am not. And they laugh about it all the time.

But they even had some fun with it at the press conference on Saturday. But no, I think the dream of my entire life is being able to put people together and get them to focus on a common goal and make sacrifices. And I'm still the guy that arranges all the golf trips. I'm still the guy that makes the teams when we get there and try to get family vacations together and family birthday dinners together.

And so for me it's who I am. It's what I've always done. And it's something I've really enjoyed. In fact I ought to use this word, I've loved the coaching part of trying to get people to make sacrifices knowing that it will be a common goal for everybody.

And I'd like to say this better, but it's so corny it's ridiculous, but I tell them all the time that the teams that win, the players will get the awards and the rewards, and I truly believe that.

So today's youngster is different than it was 10 years ago or 29 years ago for sure. But you can get some kids to buy into that and believe in it, then I think they're well rewarded for it.

Q. I know that you know a lot about getting to Final Fours, but what have you seen in these other three coaches and how they've led their teams to the Final Four this season?
COACH WILLIAMS: You know, I really don't get a chance to watch a lot of college basketball because I'm always interested in watching the teams that we're getting ready to play. And you do that the night before you play and the night after you play you watch the game of the tape, the tape of the game you just played the night before. So there's not that many nights left.

But all three of these guys I consider friends. I'm very flattered to be with them. I'm honored to be with them. And Dana and I coached against each other. He was Lon Kruger's assistant and then took over at Kansas State when Lon left. And we had some big-time games and rode together a few times from Denver to Beaver Creek to our Big 12 meetings.

We've been together on the road. We see each other. We talk to each other. So I've known him. Have a great deal of respect for him and genuinely like him.

Frank Martin is a guy -- we've had a lot of humorous stories together that we probably don't tell very many people. But love his competitiveness. Love what he stands for. We've been on some trips together. He's got me in trouble with my wife a few times just by telling stories.

But I really appreciate how hard his teams play. And the last couple of years we've recruited against them for PJ Dozier and for Seventh Woods. They got one; we got one. I loved recruiting against him. Everything was above board and very sincere.

And Mark Few is one of the guys that I consider one of my best friends in coaching. We've played poker together, we've shot craps together, we've traveled together, spent time talking about our teams. And he just called me on one of his son's birthdays, I think, to ask about some card game we used to play, make sure he had the rules right.

So there's three guys that I really consider friends. I'm happy for all of them. Probably really more stressed about Mark because he's had such great teams and came so close. And I think that it was just so satisfying for Gonzaga to get there. But I love them all.

Q. What's it going to be like for you just to be able to coach against them, against your friends?
COACH WILLIAMS: I've even coached against former players of mine, and it's very difficult. But during the game, most of the time I never look at the other coach. I just try to concentrate on my players. I try not to even look at officials, but I'm not good enough to do that.

But I can go a whole game and never look down at the other bench and look at the coach. This year Kevin Stallings is coach at Pittsburgh. We played them twice and he was my former assistant. Jerod Haase played for me. We played UAB a couple times. Mark Turgeon was one of my assistants and played against his Maryland team.

So I really do try to just focus on the court and my players. And at the end of the game, when I look down as I go to start to shake hands, I have mixed feelings because if we won I'm ecstatic but also have the compassion for the guy I truly care about.

Q. You obviously were on this stage last year, and you've been on it a good number of times before. These other guys and their teams are all newcomers to this stage. How much of an advantage do you think that gives you and your program when you've been here as many times?
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, if I had had all these guys all nine times I'd tell you I would call them veterans. But this year we've got some guys that haven't been there before. And I think it helps a little bit in your preparation in telling them what's going to be there and how much and how big it is.

But then when the kids get there, they take care of themselves. Kids nowadays are so much more experienced. They're so much more worldly, that they've been through so many things. And all the teams have high-profile players who have been very successful and were recruited really hard for several schools. And so people can play it up if they choose to.

But once you get there, you've got to play the game. And, yes, I think it helps for me and some of our guys that were there last year to know the hoopla and everything around it. But each coach is good enough to get their guys to focus on the games, and that's what's important.

Q. Could you update us on Berry's status and better yet how will you manage him this week? Will he be modified, have kind of a modified practice schedule because of those ankles?
COACH WILLIAMS: Yes. And you probably even know the answer yourself. But we're doing nothing today. We just met with him downstairs to give him itinerary with what we thought the schedule was going to be. Joel will, in fact he's with the doctors right now, just getting extra treatment, doctors and trainers.

He's got a pretty full schedule of rehab this afternoon. I have not seen him since last night, and as soon as I get off this phone I'll go down and check on him.

He had not gotten back from one treatment when I met with the team at 2:25 for about 15 minutes. We probably won't let him do anything tomorrow. But it's hard for me to tell you because I haven't seen him, and I don't know what the trainers are going to do tell me to do. We're going out on Tuesday night -- our choices were Tuesday night or midday on Wednesday, and if you go midday that means you can't really go to class on Wednesday either.

So for me, I thought it was smarter for us to go out Tuesday because some people's feet do swell when they get on an airplane on Tuesday when they get on a plane. If that's going to happen to Joel, I'd rather it happen on Tuesday night than Wednesday night. Hopefully by the time we get to Thursday or Friday, he'll be able to do some things in practice, but I'm scared to death right now because I don't know.

Q. I know you didn't recruit Theo as a point guard, but how beneficial is it to have a guy like that, as you called him earlier in the season, can be a playmaker with the ball?
COACH WILLIAMS: I think that's what he is. In high school he played the point guard some. So we realized that that's what he can do. And after sitting out and when he first came back this year his assist-to-error ratio was off the chart. Some of the best I've seen. At one point, I think he had 30-something assists and four turnovers, something crazy.

Where the last four games he's had nine assists and 11 turnovers. So he's got to make, gotta be a playmaker, but be successful for our team, not be a playmaker for the other team. I was happy when the ball went in to him.

At the end of the game, John said something to the press about he's thinking about calling a timeout, but we get the ball inbounds so quickly. That's part of it. That's what we do every day. We give a little reward for the guy that takes the ball out the most times. I want them fighting for it.

And Kennedy did a great job getting it out of bounds and it went to Theo. And I like that opportunity because it was really harder for Joel as the game went along to push off that ankle. And Theo does have a savvy about him that he can read things and he made the right play by hitting Luke.

So it does help us when he's on top of his game and he had been struggling a little bit the last four games really and so I was really happy the way he played yesterday.

Q. With the game becoming so perimeter-oriented in recent years and the analytics pointing to the importance of the 3-point shot, when you have somebody who is an old-school post player like Kennedy Meeks, how much of a difference does he make in this new style of basketball?
COACH WILLIAMS: We've been pretty successful the last two years regardless what the analytics talk about. I think you have to have good balance. I like guys who can shoot and make 3-point shots, not just shoot them.

We feel like it's extremely important to get the other team in foul trouble. The biggest way to get their big guys in foul trouble is to go inside. That's something that's been important for us ever since I started coaching, and I still believe that. And Kennedy does a great job rebounding the basketball, 17 rebounds yesterday.

And I mean we had 10 more rebounds I think it was than them. We had nine more possessions than they did. So it's just like giving us the ball nine times and seeing how many times we score, and then go play them where you get it and I get it and you get it and I get it.

So I've always thought it was extremely important. And I do think you have to have some guys that can make 3-point shots. But I've seen very few teams win the NCAA championship just shooting 3s, because everybody's got somebody inside that can give you a little balance.

Q. With the rebounding, what's kind of the attribute that makes somebody a great rebounder, the way that Kennedy has really developed into?
COACH WILLIAMS: With Kennedy, it's just the want-to and getting his body in shape and going because he's a fantastic rebounder. It's just that sometimes he doesn't get there. So that's the incentive that we as coaches have to push.

And I was really mad at him in the Butler game because he didn't box out three straight times. And Butler hurt us on the backboards in the second half. And got after him a little bit after the Butler game and the next day. And I think he responded very, very well yesterday.

But he's got great hands and great body control of going up into the air and tipping it a couple times until he can finally get it controlled. But 17 rebounds yesterday was a big, big day.

Q. You mentioned earlier some of the assistant coaches, former assistant coaches whom you've then coached against. One gentleman who hasn't left your staff since your final year at Kansas is Steve Robinson. How important has he been, just the continuity that he's provided to you there on the bench throughout the years?
COACH WILLIAMS: Steve has been fantastic. And he's like a brother to me. He's with me our first seven years at Kansas, was gone for seven years and came back my last year at Kansas. Has now been here 14 years here. So 22 years for him. And C.B. McGrath is, like, 18 years. But I like continuity.

And they evidently like it or I pay them too much money, one, but they stick around quite a bit, and yet all of them want to be head coaches. I want them to be head coaches, but Steve is a security blanket for me.

He's been a head coach, like I said, for seven years at the top level. And he knows what goes on in this office. And sometimes assistant coaches don't really realize that. And they think that you're doing the same thing. And there's a few more things on the head coach's desk, but Steve understands that.

So it's easier here in the office. It's easier in the whole job. And then when he's looking at the game, he's not just looking at the guys he coaches in practice, he's looking at the big picture. And I'm very fortunate because with C.B. McGrath and Steve Robinson both being with me so long they know me and they know what my tendencies are. They know what's important to me and they know how to phrase a suggestion or pose a question that will make me think a little bit about what they're suggesting. And I like that part, too.

Q. When you say he's like a brother to you, I'm guessing that means the relationship transcends basketball. How has it kind of shown itself off the court?
COACH WILLIAMS: He's playing more golf now than he did before he came to me. And we enjoy traveling on the road. He lied to me when I hired him, he said he ate a lot of fruit. I said well I like desserts and what came out of his fruit was apple pie and cherry pie, so we were a lot closer there than he led me to believe. But we enjoy, we have a lot of time together that we really enjoy each other.

Q. When you were talking about the preparation, one thing, this is one of the first years in the last few years that the game will be in a dome but the regionals were not. How much of an adjustment is it for guys to get in and shoot in a dome? And can that be an advantage for your guys because they've had to make that adjustment in years past?
COACH WILLIAMS: If you've got a whole team full of seniors that have done it three, four years, they would be able to tell the underclassmen. What I say is, hey, it's a little different but we're going to go practice there, do a shoot-around there. And it's the same for the other teams.

So I think if it were that -- and we have had some guys and we've played in big domes before, but most of the teams there, I'm trying to remember South Carolina, what tournament that they played in. But opening of the season we played in Maui, which was the smallest gym you could possibly play in.

But I truly believe that it's different, but it's, to me, it's only different the first couple of times you get in there. And by having a chance to practice in there and having a chance to go in and shoot-around on the day of the game, I really think that helps.

And in 2009, the Final Four was at Ford Field and I think at that time that was the largest crowd they had. And we shot the ball great up there. I try not to give them too many things to worry about. I tell them everything is easy and everything is a positive.

Q. Mark mentioned how grateful he was that you kind of took him in on some of those Nike trips. I'm wondering if there's any funny stories or printable stories from there, and maybe a piece of advice you'd give him, not necessarily for coaching but dealing with the Final Four experience for the first time?
COACH WILLIAMS: You know, I really have as much respect for Mark and the job that he's done as I do about anybody. And I mean that sincerely.

We've played in New York City one year. I guess it was the preseason NIT. And they beat us. We played them in the NCAA Tournament, in fact, in Memphis in 2009, where we eventually won the national championship. And we beat them.

We love to play cards together on the Nike trip. We like to talk golf. When we're in Vegas, we like to shoot craps together. He's a guy that I really enjoy as a human being and has so many great values. He's just a guy that I really, really enjoy and really, really like and have a tremendous amount of respect for.

I really tried to play a trick on him, maybe it's just not worth a darn to tell you, but in 2009 I called him, because we were both going to Memphis. I said we're going in on Wednesday night. We don't play until Friday. When are you going in? He said Wednesday night. I said what time do you put your team to bed? He said about midnight. I said I do too. Tunica is only 23 miles south. Let's go gamble; let's go shoot some craps.

And I said I'll take my staff. You take your staff. And so we had five guys in our cars and he had six guys in his cars. I think he had equipment manager, operations guy, couple of assistants. And I did as well.

And we went down, we both lost money. But it worked out all right. So we're going back, and I'm driving our car, and get pulled over by a patrolman. And I didn't really think I was speeding.

But I guess I didn't realize I had the NCAA courtesy car so it had the logos all over the side of the car and the guy checked and said, Coach, it was surprising to see this car out at this time of the morning on this road, blah, blah, blah. And he said, just slow down a little bit. You weren't bad. I said I appreciate it. Are you going to stay on this area of the street or the road? I said, well, Mark Few from Gonzaga is about 10 minutes behind me. I want you to pull his rear end over, too, scare him to death like you did me.

But he's really a good guy who is one of the best coaches in our game at any level. He could be successful anywhere.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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