Williams Gave a Response; It’s Time to Respect That

NEW ORLEANS —  This is becoming a test, an ugly test, of Roy Williams’ integrity.

Every question about the North Carolina job, every inquiry as to why he doesn’t just say no, why he doesn’t just say “I’m staying at Kansas” is an insult to him and is unfair to the Kansas players.

What is he supposed to do here?

He could lie. He could say he has absolutely no interest in the North Carolina coaching job. And he could take the job next week. For a day or two some might grumble about his lie but not for long, especially if he were to start winning at North Carolina.

Or he could say, yes, he is interested in the North Carolina job. He could say that he’s thinking about the Tar Heels every day but that he can’t interview for the position until Kansas loses.

Apparently that’s what too many of his inquisitors seem to want. They want to trip him up. They want to make him a liar or a bad employee.

They want him to shortchange the kids he has brought to the Final Four -- seniors such as Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich, who are making their last college stand, underclassmen such as Aaron Miles and Keith Langford, who will be back at Kansas -- or the inquisitors want Williams to shortchange his values by forcing him into a lie.

It is what frustrates him more than anything, this continual prodding. He has told everybody, from the moment Matt Doherty resigned as Tar Heel coach this week, that he will not address his feelings about the North Carolina job until after the Final Four.

Which is the only answer Williams can give.

You say, no, he could just state emphatically that he’s not leaving Kansas.

No, he can’t.

“Before you make every decision in your life,” he said Friday, “you ought to think about it. And, by God, I’m not going to think one second about anything that’s going to take me away from Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.

“Whether it’s media, whether it’s college presidents, whether it’s anybody in the world, if they have a tough time with that, that’s their problem. Any decision I’ve ever made in my life, I’ve thought about.”

As he takes question after question here at the Final Four -- in formal news conferences, in small gatherings in the hallway after the news conferences, as he walks onto the Superdome court for practice and as he walks off after practice, as he walks quickly with his head down toward the team bus, in the lobby of the Kansas hotel -- he hears the question.

“Are you interested in the North Carolina job, Coach? Are you going to North Carolina, Coach?”

At least he isn’t being harangued about having never won a national championship. That has been his fate until this year. “Isn’t your legacy at risk because you haven’t won the big one?” “Do you feel something is missing because you haven’t won a national championship?”

To his credit, he doesn’t snap. He didn’t snap Friday.

On Wednesday, in a national conference call, the first five questions put to Williams were about the North Carolina job. The conference call moderator then interrupted and asked for questions about the Final Four. The next person in line passed. “Since this question is about North Carolina, I’ll withdraw the question,” he said.

It’s not as if Williams wasn’t clear Wednesday.

“I think,” Williams said, “my team, myself, everybody deserves to have the right to focus on this Final Four week. I think my team deserves me to not have to answer those questions, and I

haven’t spent one second thinking about it except for the fact nobody can understand English enough to take my answer.”

The facts are that Williams agonized publicly three years ago before turning down North Carolina. He idolizes Dean Smith and adored his time as a Tar Heel assistant. He also has become attached to Kansas, the university and its fans. He turned down North Carolina once and, it was thought, for all.

But it is also believed that Williams and Kansas Athletic Director Al Bohl haven’t bonded. It’s not hard to imagine Williams might not get along with Bohl, who was Jerry Tarkanian’s boss at Fresno State while Tark was operating with little oversight.

Williams is not going to stand up in New Orleans and say he’s not interested in North Carolina. Of course, he’s interested. He cried three years ago when he said no. Most of us don’t get a second chance at a first love. Williams probably is going to have that chance.

And Williams is right to ask, plead, beg for the questions about North Carolina to stop. His players were asked too. In the locker room, on a podium, in the hallways. Politely and relentlessly they had the same answer. “We’re not talking about that.”

What’s being hurt is the Final Four.

Williams can take the heat. He’s doing it well and with class.

But four teams, four groups of college kids, have reached a place of their dreams.

The weekend should be about Marquette, Kansas, Texas and Syracuse. It is not about Roy Williams. Or North Carolina.

So let’s shut up and play ball.

Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com.