UNC, KU fans living, dying with each Williams move
Most of the time Michael Smith is a normal, easygoing, stable guy. The 32-year-old lawyer has a wife, two children and a dog and lives out in the Kansas country near Inman. He loves Kansas basketball, but in terms of being obsessive about things, that just isn't him.
Except this week. And in the summer of 2000, of course.
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| Roy Williams hasn't been offered the North Carolina job yet.(AP) |
She isn't the only wife thinking that about her normally reasonable husband. The fan bases of two schools -- North Carolina and Kansas -- are back where they were three years ago, monitoring the Internet for every last tidbit of information concerning what Roy Williams might be thinking, planning, considering.
Williams is the main candidate for the UNC job, although Tar Heel athletic director Dick Baddour said he hasn't offered the job to for Carolina alum yet. Why? That's just one debate going down on fan web sites such as JayhawkSlant.com and InsideCarolina.com.
"I check the (KU) site about every 15 minutes," said Smith. "I got into work this morning at 6:30, and that was the first thing I did. If I am not at court, I am on the site. I can't help it."
It is not much different for Scott Orr, who is a 46-year-old minister at the Lindley Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C. Orr has a wife and three children "who don't care a bit about basketball." They too think he has lost his mind.
The man of God merely logs onto the 'Net at least a half dozen times a day, including first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. He hasn't yet succumbed to the urge of getting up in the middle of the night to check.
"But I'm not ruling it out," he laughed.
This is what the Williams saga has done -- taken perfectly sound minds and turned them into mush. Stomachs are in knots, eyes are getting bleary and everyone just wants this thing to end -- if only to put the rumors to rest and let everyone turn off the Internet and get back to normal.
"There is a lot of angst and anguish on the boards the last 48 hours," said Orr.
Smith says each night he calls his godfather who lives over in Leawood, Kan., to discuss the situation and is told that he should stop fretting over each twist and turn and just wait it out.
"I get off the phone and say, 'You know, that's great advice.' And that lasts five minutes and then I am back on the Internet. As dumb as I am, I keep watching."
But what are they seeing? The amount of gossip on this decision is incredible. As if legitimate media outlets weren't crazy enough -- many North Carolina newspapers said Williams was almost assuredly coming or at least deciding Thursday, neither of which turned out to be true -- the fan boards are at another level.
The random scoops that fans throw up there are nuts. Everything from repeating eyewitness accounts -- "my sister who lives in Albemarle, N.C., said she saw one of Roy Williams' relatives driving in the direction of Chapel Hill! Must be a press conference!" -- to relying on "sources" that may or may not exist -- "a source claimed Williams' sticking point is having Phil Ford on the staff."
Who knows if any of this is true? In the last 24 hours, Williams has been seen in Lawrence, Kan., Chapel Hill, N.C., and, maybe most comically, on an airplane that took off in Sacramento, was stopping in Phoenix and eventually landing at Raleigh-Durham International. One poster even linked up an airline website that tracked the plane's progress.
"I knew that wasn't true," said Smith. "Why would he be in Sacramento? If he is going to take the job he is on a private plane and that's it.
"It's kind of amazing," Smith continued. "I work in a profession where you are always checking sources, always looking for confirmation. On the Internet, anybody can come on and say anything and there it goes, just like wildfire."
Said Orr: "That's what really gets under my skin. So many people say they've got the definitive statement. Then what happens is none of them materialize. It's a circus. I think the schools leak information to keep people confused so they can take their time."
But instead of just tuning it out, the junkies go for more. Smith, Orr and the others can't help themselves. According to JayhawkSlant editor Shay Wildeboor, 80 people were on the site waiting for news at 3:30 a.m. ET this morning. The site is averaging 450,000 page views a day, almost seven times the average.
At InsideCarolina, there were 1,800 people on the site during one point Thursday afternoon, according to editor Ben Sherman.
Smith admits he's part of the problem. Especially with the rumors.
"The phenomenon I've noticed is when a rumor comes out it's hogwash unless it (backs your opinion). Then you believe it wholeheartedly."
It is so crazy UNC athletic director Dick Baddour even issued a release Thursday in an effort to calm the masses.
"I have had several very good conversations with Roy Williams over the last two days. Those talks will continue through the weekend. The Final Four ended just a few days ago.
"Coach Williams and I feel the timing is too near the end of the Final Four and there is too much going on in Lawrence (Kan.) at this time for us to conclude our talks. I have not offered the job to Coach Williams, but we have had good conversations that will continue over the next few days. He understands we will continue to proceed with other candidates, as well.
"Typically I do not comment on job searches. However, this is obviously not a typical situation. Coach Williams and I both felt there was so much misinformation out there that an update to confirm our talks was both responsible and necessary."
All that did was get people more fired up. Through the weekend? Why hasn't UNC offered? Is this good or bad? For either side?
This is maddening for the fans. It's the not knowing, they say, that is the worst.
Wednesday, Smith pulled out a tape of Williams giving a speech in 2000 where the coach claimed he would only leave Kansas if "fired or retired." Then he laughed.
"Well, here we go again," said Smith. "I think he'll have a hard time leaving. I do think he is an honest person and loyal. If he really sat in (recruit) Omar Wilkes' home and (recruit) David Padgett's home and said he'd be there, he'll be there. If he is not, then he'd lose a lot of credibility."
"I think he is coming," said Orr, the UNC fan. "I don't think he would put UNC in that position again. He knows how badly that hurt the school the last time. (If) he wasn't coming he'd have said up front, 'No, not going to do it.'"
The only things fans on both states can agree on is it would be nice if Williams just made up his darn mind. They've got lives to get back to.
"I'd love for it to be over," said Orr. "Then we could go back to talking about recruiting."
