Be young, have fun

KU's Williams encourages players to enjoy journey

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Roy Williams reached the Final Four twice in his first five seasons and decided what the heck, this is bound to happen every couple of years or so.

But the years raced past and one NCAA tournament disappointment followed another.

"How stupid I was," the Kansas coach said Wednesday during a teleconference of Final Four coaches.

He knew he should have given himself more time to enjoy an experience that was actually much more rare than his early success had led him to believe.

Four times since his 1993 team played in the Final Four in New Orleans, his Jayhawks had entered the tournament as No. 1 seed only to suffer an early exit.

Now, nine years later, he's back. His dark hair has turned a distinguished middle-aged gray.

And it's a wiser coach who is taking Kansas to Atlanta for Saturday's national semifinal against Maryland.

He's even come up with a whole new philosophy.

While the Jayhawks were losing only twice in the regular-season and going 16-0 through the Big 12 schedule this year, he kept repeating, "Enjoy the journey."

"That's what I tell the youngsters," he said once. "Enjoy your career because it goes by so fast. Be sure you enjoy the journey."

It worked all year, and Williams is determined to make sure it remains the motto despite all the hoopla and hectic demands that await in Atlanta.

"I'm going to work very hard to," he said. "Once we get past the ticket requests and room requests from everybody in the world I think it will be a lot of fun. "We'll push the team to enjoy it, allow them to do and see everything. But when I'm watching tape or on the court, I'm really going to concentrate. We'll try to enjoy ourselves but play as hard as we can."

While going nine years without a Final Four appearance, Williams acquired one of those common "can't-win-the-big-one" labels that afflict so many successful coaches. A national championship coupled with his overall winning percentage of over 80 percent would dispel any such notions for good.

It's a situation Williams is familiar with. As a longtime assistant at North Carolina, he was there when Dean Smith finally won his first national title. "I said, 'I'm so happy for you because it'll shut all those people up,'" Williams recalled.

"He said, 'I don't know if I'm a better coach than I was 2 1/2 hours ago.'" The can't-win-the-big-one label is sure to be there, he said, until he finally wins his first NCAA title.

"It's something ... I've got to live with," he said. "If we ever do win it, they'll move on to somebody else."

In the meantime, Williams said the tender ankle of guard Kirk Hinrich is "not 100 percent."

Hinrich, who would possibly be named the Jayhawks' most valuable player in a vote of teammates, injured the ankle in the ragged first-round victory over Holy Cross but has been able to play every game, including last Sunday's win over Oregon that vaulted the Jayhawks into the Final Four.

"He gave me more tired signals in the Oregon game than I've gotten from him the entire season," Williams said. "We're trying to get him some extra time on the [exercise] bike, build his stamina back up. He basically went about nine days without doing much on a conditioning basis at all."

He'll also make sure Hinrich takes time to enjoy the journey.

 

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