I didn't write this. It came to me from a message board from a die-hard Kentucky Fan. High Praise indeed.

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Roy Williams was an even better choice than UNC might have imagined when they named him as their head coach. Sure, he's a fantastic recruiter, a solid bench coach, he gets along extremely well with his players and instills in them a "team first" attitude that produces both impressive win totals and players that you can be proud of. Being the defending National Champions doesn't hurt either.

But I think UNC lucked into one thing they probably didn't realize at the time they hired Roy Williams. The unrealized bonus can be found if you pull back and look at the big picture. The big ACC picture, that is. UNC lucked out because Roy Williams is the perfect foil to Duke's Mike Krzyzweski. Hollywood could not have cast a finer archetype to contrast against Duke's perpetually scowling coach.

Where Krzyzweski is patronizing and aloof, Williams is as plain as spilt cornflakes and as approachable as warm apple pie. Where Krzyzweski requires a thumb print to take the elevator up to his office, you get the idea you could find Roy hanging out by the janitor's closet swapping jokes with the cleaning crew. Where Krzyzweski bristles with military discipline and seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, Williams' self-depreciating sense of humor and plain old plainness make it seem as though he might not get offended if you dared ask him a question out of turn.

Most importantly, and what makes Roy so damned likable compared to Krzyzweski is that he isn't a phony. He's not trying to tell us he is a leader of men, not a coach, because he is a coach and he's clearly proud to be one. It is what it is and needs no embellishing. He didn't hold a press conference when the Lakers asked him if he was interested in their head coaching position, but he could have. He doesn't do any of the maddening things that are a trademark of the Krzyzweski regime.

I'd like to dislike Roy Williams. I'm a Kentucky fan and UNC is our closest pretender to the throne in college basketball. I have a vested interest in UNC not doing well. But for the life of me I can't bring myself to not like this UNC coach try as I might.

If the slightest bit of humor is to be found Ol' Roy will cut loose with that country morning breakfast grin of his and I'll be damned if I can't help but to smile with him. This doesn't mean of course that Roy Williams isn't a fiery coach or that he can't lay into somebody when they need it or when he thinks they deserve it, but I get the idea he doesn't think his next coaching move might be studied by the Smithsonian Institution for the next 1000 years the way I do when I see his Duke counterpart agonizing over the plainest of calls a referee might have made that for some incomprehensible reason Krszyweski finds incredulous or more likely contemptuous (think Indiana: "You killed my team").

But when Roy does lose his cool, it won't be an act. Roy won't "plan" on staging some little tiff or if a call doesn't go UNC's way and Roy loses it, he'll be just as likely to nod his head in agreement when the truth is pointed out to him. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I admire this UNC coach and I appreciate the way he conducts himself because he doesn't have to be that way. I still remember in January of 2004 Roy benching his entire starting lineup while reminding them of where they were recruited in comparison to the Kentucky team that was kicking their behinds at the time, that game was the official end of the Doherty era in my opinion and the beginning of Roy's.

When Roy Williams coached UNC at Kentucky earlier this year he wore a brown suit. A small tip of the hat to Adolph Rupp. A slight gesture that perhaps wasn't meant for the press or even for the fans.

I'd like to think that Bill Keightley... a man whom has sat on Kentucky's bench forever as our ancient equipment manager.... Well I'd like to think that he looked over and he smiled at Roy Williams in acknowledgment. Maybe nodded his head in understanding at this small gesture that means everything to the right people.

For at the beginning, at the deepest roots in the oldest most fertile fields, common ancestors stood and maybe a ball or two bounced on the dirt as they surveyed the windswept plains of Kansas. Forrest "Phog" Allen stood there and he told his assistant he might amount to something after all if he kept at it long enough.

That day, in that place, the seeds were strewn that has made Roy Williams the man and the coach that he is, and to his credit he has not forgotten who he is or why he believes that an orange ball can reveal a little more about a man than wins and losses.

Roy Williams is a direct descendant of the greatest basketball family the world will ever know. Both UNC and Kentucky's combined destinies were born in the same place on those distant plains. Basketball's two winningest coaches, the games greatest programs, and all the legends of all the games they have ever played still echo on those fields. They are forgotten sometimes as fake games and faker coaches build their plastic records on sand and credit.

But Roy Williams hasn't forgotten.

That's why Roy Williams is the perfect answer for North Carolina.