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Warm welcome Fans let Williams, Jayhawks know they give a ... darnPosted: Wednesday April 09, 2003 3:39 AMTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Cold, gray skies and flurries couldn't keep Kansas fans from welcoming their Jayhawks home Tuesday, national title or not. Several hundred Kansas faithful gathered on the tarmac at Forbes Field to cheer one more time for the team that came within a 3-pointer of winning the school's first national title since 1988 and the first under head coach Roy Williams. Kansas lost to Syracuse 81-78 Monday night, and finished 30-8 on the year. A couple of hours later, more than 8,000 people filed into Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence to welcome Williams and the Jayhawks. "The Syracuse coach just won a national championship, but the Syracuse coach doesn't love his players more than I do mine," Williams told the cheering throng in Allen. "This was the most satisfying year I've ever had as a college coach." Fans gave the team a standing ovation, then jumped to their feet again when Williams got up to speak. "This is a time when they need all the support they can get," said Rick Dalton, a Topeka retiree, at the airport reception. Dalton, a 1948 graduate, said Kansas had a fantastic season, but that he was bothered by the attention paid to speculation Williams will leave for North Carolina in the coming weeks. "I think that was tough for the team," he said. "I think they did a magnificent job." North Carolina is widely expected to speak to Williams about its coaching vacancy in the coming days. He turned down his alma mater in 2000, citing the commitment to his players -- past, present and future. Williams joined seniors Nick Collision and Kirk Hinrich in addressing the crowd in Topeka and in Lawrence. They all thanked fans for the support. The coach said the team was focused from the first day of practice on winning the national title, but encountered a few bumps along the way. "We didn't quite get it all done, but it was a fantastic, fantastic year," Williams said. Making reference to remarks Williams made on CBS a few minutes after the game, several students wore T-shirts that said, "I don't give a [expletive] about North Carolina either." When pressed by CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein if he would take the North Carolina job if offered, Williams finally snapped, "I don't give a [expletive] about North Carolina. I care about those 13 kids." Williams, in an informal news conference in Allen Fieldhouse after the rally, sad he regretted his choice of words. "If I had to do it over again I would say the same thing, but I would substitute the word 'darn' for one word I used," he said. "I've never minded somebody asking me one question about anything, and then when I give a response I felt should stop that mode of questioning and the second question comes, and I got a little more irritated and then when the third question comes I got a lot more irritated. "It was 10 minutes after I had just lost the national championship game, it was 10 seconds after I just walked out of the locker room seeing my kids cry. So if somebody has a problem with that, that's their problem." At the airport in Topeka, Jan Pratt of Topeka said Williams' remark to the CBS reporter "said what my husband and I were thinking." "I think the program brings so much pride to our state," Pratt said. "In my heart, I think Roy Williams is a loyal man. He made our state school a great program. They shouldn't try to take that away from him." Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who spent the Final Four weekend in New Orleans, makes no bones about her desire to keep Williams in Kansas. "Roy Williams represents what's best about coaching in America. It's no wonder that any team would be thrilled to have him as a leader," Sebelius said in a statement. "As an alumni, as governor, and a huge K.U. basketball fan, I will do whatever I can to keep him here." |
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