I mean whatever shall Roy do? How is he going to continue bringing in those top recruiting classes without help from a local AAU coach?
That was sarcasm if you did not notice.
Anyway, adding to the drama we have already discussed, it seems that John Wall’s AAU Coach, Brian Clifton says he does not want anything to do with Roy Williams:
UNC had not previously been among the universities Wall was seriously considering — Baylor, Memphis, N.C. State, Duke and Kansas — and Clifton has said he’s not on talking terms with Carolina coaches.
“I have no desire to talk to, to be involved with, to visit, to contemplate in any shape, form or fashion John Wall going to play for Roy Williams. Zero,” said Clifton, who runs the D-One sports program.
Bomani Jones at 850/620 asked him what exactly his beef was with Roy Williams:
“I don’t have any respect for Roy Williams. I encourage [my players] to play for guys that will inspire them to be good people. If you’re not a good person, you can’t make someone a good person.”
Yet, after meeting Mike Krzyzewski he has tons of respect for him.
Clifton, who has accompanied Wall on campus visits, described Sunday’s meeting with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski as “very good.” When asked whether Wall’s list of choices had changed, Clifton replied: “The emergence of Duke as a viable option, that in and of itself has caused a change.”
“We all left the meeting with the conclusion that it was worth exploring further,” said Clifton, who clearly was feeling better about Duke after his earlier concerns that the Blue Devils would not be a good fit for Wall. “I respect Coach K and the way that he goes about business. … He was enough of a professional to deal with people based on who they really are, not on what he’s heard they might be. I’d be comfortable with any of my guys learning from and being shaped and molded by a guy who’s got that in his character.”
I actually think this is pretty freaking funny. Clifton is obviously pissed off that Roy Williams opted not to give Wall a look previously on the basis of the player’s reputation. In fact the N&O article goes on to say Clifton got a cool reception from UNC on another player he tried to bring to them which makes them a little more a case of sour grapes. What is also funny about this is Clifton obviously has no idea when he is being used. He lauds Krzyzewski’s demeanor but ignores the fact that the Duke coach is only interested in Wall because Roy is cleaning his clock and Duke has fallen behind in the recruiting game.
Clifton has also not paid attention(apparently) to how the two coaches in question handle players leaving early for the NBA. At Duke, Krzyzewski has long opposed his players leaving early. He publicly chastised William Avery for leaving after two years to the point Avery made his draft declaration at his high school. Both Shavlik Randoplh and Josh McRoberts were given the warmth of a press release when they left. The general perception is the Duke coach is none to happy with players who opt to put their personal careers ahead of the Blue Devil program. There is also the not so small matter of countless transfers out of the Duke program on an almost yearly basis which is usually a sign something is a miss.
Contrast that to Roy Williams being very upfront with his willingness to give UNC players all the available information on the NBA. Heck, UNC under both Dean Smith and Roy Williams have advised players to leave even if they actually wanted to stay. Only once, with Danny Green, has Roy been less than supportive of a decision. In that case, Roy got over it and was on board once the awkward initial announcement was made. As best as I can tell Tar Heel players all love playing for Roy.
This is not to say Roy is not without his flaws. I also think it is possible that Roy or his staff may have mishandled interactions with Clifton leaving a bad impression. However, I find Clifton declaring Roy to not be a “good person” while singing the praises of Krzyzewski to be laughable on a variety of levels. Neither man is perfect and while I am biased, I think there is plenty of evidence pointing to Roy being the better handler of his players and their future ambitions than Kryzewski has been.
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I couldn’t agree with you anymore. In all honesty I think there is more between Clifton and Williams because calling Roy out and saying these things don’t hold up. If you’re going to make allegations, there has to be more to it. But who knows.
It is recruiting though, so I’m not surprised. And Coach K has always been binding on his players. Williams is a supportive guy and from the many tapes and videos I’ve seen about him, there’s minimal dirt.
It’s almost a cheap shot. Williams is in Detroit taking his team into the Final Four meanwhile there’s this clown pointing fingers and stirring the pot. That’s absolutely unnecessary in the current circumstances. Again, I have no doubts Williams will keep his head focused and forget about it. He’s probably laughing as well because the already declared recruits are going to be just fine.
Lastly, if John Wall could speak for himself and not have Clifton and his shadow cover him up I think it would be a different story.
Interesting story THF.
That’s one thing that I think is missing, Canadian. How does John Wall feel about playing at UNC for Roy Williams? Why isn’t Wall speaking for himself? Why does this Clifton joker have to put in his three cents on this while Wall sits in the shadows?
I don’t know Clifton’s true motives here, but he sounds like another clown who coaches kids and sees dollar signs at the end of the road and gets pissed when he thinks he should be on top of the world and college coaches don’t stroke his ego.
Going back to Wall, I don’t want to bash the kid, but he needs to speak for himself. I think too many kids let other people (like coaches and sometimes agents) run their lives and the kid doesn’t get the giudance he/she deserves. If you ask me, this should only be between Roy, Wall, and Wall’s family. Leave this coat-tailing coach out of the equation.
yea Andy–and for those who were all for Wall potentially coming, what does it say about him? This had stink all over it from the beginning. Sad to see some in THNation falling for this. Leave this crap to the Calipari’s.
Cifton’s negative attitude and comments toward Roy are unfortunate, and kind of odd, public-relations wise, for someone of his supposed stature, although he is certainly not considered a major influence or player in college basketball. It’s also not necessarily obvious that John should be speaking up for himself. He may or may not share his coaches’ feelings but he also may be between a rock and a hard place. I see the value and support the concept of trusted adults being an advisor or sort of shield, if you will, for players who are under constant recruiting pressure, not to mention pressure from the more slimy element of opportunistic humanity. And, for all I know, Clifton has the best intentions for John. I understand John doesn’t have a father and his mother may have all the faith in Clifton’s guidance. As others have said though, sooner or later it would be nice to hear what John has to say about it.
How does one like K over Roy? It doen’t make sense!
Seinfeld may be a sitcom little before your time, unc50, but there is an episode where they do a “bizarro world” theme: up is down, hello is good bye…maybe that’s the explanation.
Wall should speak for himself, considering how many times he has flunked grades in high school isn’t he like 25 years old?
Seriously, this is one of the many reasons why Carolina shouldn’t want this kid anywhere near its campus. I don’t know Coach Williams motives here, and maybe Wall is a good kid after you get past all the shadows and handlers. But no matter how talented the kid is, if Wall thinks highly of Clifton and his “guidance” then I’m not sure I want that kid representing Carolina basketball. Something stinks and I don’t think anyone who gives this kid a scholarship wants to know what it is……
yeah, Roy has such a record of being an unrespected “bad” guy around the country. K doesnt either, for that matter, but Roy? please.
who is this guy? i heard his name exactly….45 seconds ago when i read this thread. what a maroon.
Good points, sd11. You may be absolutely right about staying away from Wall. The one thing I have considered about his separating himself from Clifton and being more outspoken on his own is how he might be deferring to his mother’s wishes or trust in this guy. Even 19 year-olds can be a little overwhelmed in situations like this, and often depend on parents or parental figures to help them sort everything out.
The main thing that bothers me about Clifton is how hard he came down on Roy in public, especially the part about him not being a good person. Even if he believes this to be true, that is a very unprofessional, and seemingly vindictive, thing to say for all the world to hear.
I really don’t know what part of Roy’s persona that would give any indication that he is not a good person.
THF makes the fundamental point once again that the UNC program has been superior in putting together a working, well coordinated and balanced team of players who have stayed in school and represented the university the way anyone would approve.
Taking a player so some one else cannot is not in the best long term interest of a successful program.
Again it is obivious that UNC collectively is continuing a strong recruiting effort: that may be the envy of some other central North Carolina institutions of higher education!
Look for clifton to become an asst. coach at dook…what a nut bar.
hey Canadian…very cool avatar!!!
I like JB’s avatar… sweet.
I say, show john wall the door. We don’t need him if he can’t (or doesn’t) stand up for himself.
What Wilf said!!!
[...] to contemplate in any shape, form or fashion John Wall going to play for Roy Williams. Zero.” Tarheelfanblog says that when a talk radio personality asked Clifton what he didn’t like about Roy, he said [...]