No Doubt

Roy Williams left Lawrence, Kansas in 2003 to become the head coach at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina. At the time, Williams was considered the greatest coach to never win a National Championship. Until he did.

Within two seasons he was cutting down the nets as he led North Carolina to their first title in over a decade. But despite his outstanding resume, some remained critical of the now Hall of Fame coach.

They pointed to the fact that Matt Doherty, Williams' predecessor, was the man that brought Sean May, Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants -- three former McDonald's All-Americans -- to Chapel Hill. The critics wanted to see Williams win it all with a team he recruited.

It should be noted that the highest draft pick from that championship-winning team was freshman Marvin Williams, a Roy Williams recruit. Furthermore, Earl "J.R." Smith was also part of Carolina's 2004 recruiting class before changing his mind and going pro. He, too, would have been a freshman on UNC's title team.

Following their 2005 National Title run, most people assumed that Carolina was going to take a serious step back the following season. What kind of team can lose their top seven scorers and still be competitive the following year? A Roy Williams-led team, of course.

Coach Williams was able to fill the shoes of May, Williams, McCants and Felton with Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Ginyard, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor through the 2005 recruiting season. You know things are good when you can bring in three high school All-Americans in the same year.

That group, led by Tyler Hansbrough, became the framework for the next four seasons. It didn't hurt that the 2006 recruiting class was equally great, either. That class also featured three McDonald's All-Americans -- Brandan Wright, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson -- who played as much a part in Carolina's success as the class that preceded them.

These two groups helped silence the critics by improving year after year, including three consecutive ACC Titles and this year's National Title. I guess Ole Roy can win with a team of his own after all. So much for the doubters...