fbpx
Athletics

‘Priceless’: Tar Heels earn trip to NCAA Final Four

The NCAA Tournament is a big deal to Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams. But so is Easter.

Roy Williams had done plenty of scouting for Sunday. Of course he had. He couldn’t leave something this important to chance.

We’re talking, of course, about Easter eggs. Sunday morning was the morning of the East Regional championship game between Carolina and Notre Dame, but it was also Easter morning.

The Carolina head coach had both his children in Philadelphia, and he also had both his grandchildren in Philadelphia. So he was going to watch film, and he was going to gameplan, and he was going to coach his team, but first: he was going to hide eggs. Lots of eggs. One hundred and seven of them, to be exact.

Williams found what he thought was a suitable location, but he was outscouted by his daughter-in-law, Katie, who found a grassy area adjacent to a church near the team hotel. So on Sunday morning, while the rest of the Carolina world counted the minutes until the 8:49 tipoff, Williams and his entire family were watching with delight as grandsons Aiden and Court chased eggs.

The NCAA Tournament is a big deal to Roy Williams. But so is Easter.

“I did not want to miss Easter,” Williams said after his team advanced to the Final Four for a fourth time since he returned to Chapel Hill. “Easter is my favorite holiday of the year, because my grandsons are at an age where they enjoy doing those kinds of things. It was so special to just get to watch them be kids. To get a hug from your grandkids, that’s a feeling nobody can ever understand.”

A little less than 12 hours later, he brought his other group of kids—the 2016 Tar Heels—to the Wells Fargo Center for the tiny matter of deciding the final entry in this year’s Final Four. It’s been four years since Carolina played in one of these final eight games. It had been seven years since Carolina won one of these.

To keep reading, see goheels.com.

See also: