Coach K or Roy Williams

Coach Williams and Coach K

Two of the best coaches in the NCAA

You’re seventeen years old.  You’re the best basketball player in the nation and you can go to any school you want.  Both Duke and North Carolina have come calling and Coach K and Roy Williams are throwing their best recruiting techniques at you.  You decide to go through a list of pros and cons comparing the two coaches to make your decision.

Play Style:

Roy Williams teams have always been fast-paced offensive juggernauts.  This doesn’t necessarily count in the win columns but it looks fun as hell to play.  Coach K likes to suit his offense to his players so it can be dreadfully boring or extremely fun depending on the personnel.  Furthermore under Coach K you’ll learn how to play defense.  It might be a little boring trying to stop an opponent from scoring for thirty-five seconds.  Your attention span is quite limited because you’re a kid.  On the other hand Roy Williams teaches you the best techniques for cherry picking.  Tyler Zeller has been very successful in this system.  Once he sees the opponent shoot he is already dashing down the court for a breakaway lay-up.

Advantage Roy.

Life After College:

Duke fans always hear that Coach K turns boys into men.  He educates them to become responsible, productive and well-acclimated members of society.  Roy Williams teaches players to win eating competitions (Sean May) or actors (Rashad McCants).  Imagine you go up for a lay-up, come down awkwardly and shatter every bone in both of your legs.  Besides a professional career in the national wheelchair basketball league you’re done with sports. You need to do something else with your life.  I’m not going to get into a debate on whether Duke or UNC is a better school, because there is no debate, Duke is better.

Advantage Coach K.

Most likely to win a championship:

The numbers are pretty simple.  Coach K has four championships and Roy Williams has two. There have been numerous years where each coach should have added another title to their long list of accomplishments but the NCAA tournament is astonishingly difficult to win. For purity’s sake lets break it down even more.  Number of championships Coach K has won with players he’s recruited: four.  Number of championships Roy Williams has won with players he’s recruited: one.  If you’re the number one recruit and you’re getting recruited by Matt Doherty then go to that school, because Roy Williams is following close behind.

Advantage Coach K.

Will you get abandoned?

This thought must go through every recruits mind as they are deciding which university to attend.  Coach K has shown strong loyalty to the Duke program although he did sit out a season due to “health problems.”  Roy on the other hand demonstrated loyalty to Kansas once when UNC came calling, but he abandoned that flat and boring Midwestern state the second time UNC came around.  Both coaches will likely remain at their posts till they retire so we have to look at their health issues.  Coach K has seemed spry and nimble for the past few years and has eerily resembled Dick Clark in that he doesn’t seem to age.  Roy Williams has approached aging with Bob Barker grace and has decided to mimic his two favorite types of people: guidos and oompa-loompas.  Roy Williams almost fainted on court after performing a squat and yelling at his players.  This one is pretty easy.

Advantage Coach K

Are you a Point Guard/Shooting Guard/Small Forward?

Coach K

Are you a Power Forward/Center?

Roy Williams

Who will give me more NBA success?

This question is debated over and over and over again by Duke and UNC fans.  I’m only going to address players who fall under the head coaching careers of these two.  When I look at notable players lists I don’t really see a viable argument in favor of Roy Williams. His best player is undoubtedly Paul Pierce and after that you have Kirk Hinrich? Scot Pollard? Raef Lafrentz?  None of the UNC players he’s coached have done anything notable in the NBA. Sean May ate himself out of the league (with Raymond Felton trying really hard to follow this act).  Tyler Hansbrough or Ty Lawson will probably be the most successful of the current NBA players.  Coach K has numerous players who have made strong impacts: Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Shane Battier and Grant Hill are the most impressive.  Bobby Hurley and Jason Williams had potentially great careers derailed by injuries.

Advantage Coach K

I think it’s pretty obvious who you should choose in this situation, but for all the UNC faithful I’ll express it in terms you will hopefully understand. Roy Williams: 2. Coach K: 5. Five is bigger than two. Coach K wins.

Disclaimer: I know both schools are fine institutions but I’m just talking shit for the sake of the rivalry.

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17 Responses to Coach K or Roy Williams

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  1. William says:

    I would go through and point out the many fallacies of your argument, but it’s pretty obvious you’re a dook fan and simply posturing as such.

    1. jchenkel says:

      This.

  2. CarMichael says:

    I would sign with Coach K because he came to our house in a limo to show how classy he is.

  3. TaiwanLawson says:

    Come on, guys. This website has such potential. “Articles” like this not entertaining, not informative, and are ultimately lazy. You’re better than that.

  4. Bryan says:

    If you’re a PG, you’d select Duke? How does that make sense? Roy’s had Felton, Lawson, Heinrich, and even freaking Jacque Vaughn as pro-success stories. That’s not even including what Marshall will do. Duke’s had Greg Paulus, Chris Duhon, William Avery, and before ruining his career, Jay Williams. Only one of those players (Williams) ever came close to living up to his hype out of high school.

  5. Bryan says:

    Also, the author jokingly mentions that Roy almost fainted, but must have skipped over this fun clip on the internet…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWl5qC0FBzo

  6. Seth says:

    Big lolz for this one. K may be the better coach, but has nothing to do with these stupid, arbitrary categories.

    This article is “Who would you rather play for?” not “Who’s the better coach?” Just look at the lede paragraph. **

    I would like to read this article written seriously and objectively by TRB though.

    **Worth noting Duke not exactly known for journalism (see The Chronicle, this article)

    1. William says:

      Thanks Seth. I think Marc just wanted to chime in with some snarky pro-dook comments since our posts have been mostly UNC dominated for the last week or so.

      I’m thinking we’ll probably work on a more comprehensive version of the “Who would you rather play for?” question. That would be a good read when all the facts are laid on the table without the trolling bias. Stay tuned.

  7. Adrian says:

    Maybe Harrison Barnes should weigh in with his opinion?

  8. TaiwanLawson says:

    Agree with Seth. This topic would be a fantastic vehicle for solid work, but instead of having two literate fans of each side offers their arguments and justifications for those arguments, we get the equivalent of a message board troll post.

  9. DanceWithTheDevil says:

    LOL at all the whining from Carolina fans. I’m sure you’d be saying the same thing if the article tilted the other way. Writers on a rivalry blog are entitled to troll every now and then, I have no complaints if someone wants to post the pro-UNC counterpart to this.

    1. jchenkel says:

      We’re all still figuring out how to act around here. Should we all make reasoned and thoughtful arguments, seeing the pros and cons of each team/school? Should we flame a little bit and get into petty arguments? We’re clearly never going to agree on a lot of things, particularly once the season starts.

      Somehow we have to end up emulating Shane. Seriously biased, but overall pretty reasonable. Doesn’t flame at all really, but voices opinions I definitely disagree with when it comes to Duke (which is expected and totally fine) and is able to crack on both schools and praise both schools.

  10. Sharona says:

    Ugh, all these Carolina fans have clearly never read any of the origins of this website, “Seth Curry Saves Duke!” Shane (and now his friends/writers) clearly like to mix real analysis w/ some fan humor. This pattern/mix has continued on this site from both sides… so chill on all the critiques of the post’s perceived lack of “solid work” and “journalism”

    1. jchenkel says:

      Huh – never read Shane’s old blog? What do you think we’re doing here?

      1. Sharona says:

        Ok, then why the criticism of “stupid, arbitrary categories” etc.? I would assume then that some of the Carolina commenters just don’t get the joke…

        1. jchenkel says:

          Because it wasn’t that funny, maybe?

        2. TaiwanLawson says:

          “Roy Williams has approached aging with Bob Barker grace and has decided to mimic his two favorite types of people: guidos and oompa-loompas.”

          I can see your point now. This type of humor probably soars over most people’s heads.

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