UNC Basketball: All-time “what if” Roy Williams team
![Apr 3, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams reacts against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the championship game of the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports Apr 3, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams reacts against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the championship game of the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/ced35810520b6a6f61bf31e266acb8442e1b9517ef425aba17f2b1cb480c7571.jpg)
Imagine if Roy Williams could pull in any recruit he wanted. The landscape of college basketball would look significantly different.
In the current state of recruiting, it is extremely hard to pull in big-name recruits year after year. Duke and Kentucky do it, but have not consistently appeared in the Final Four enough to necessarily validate the “one-and-done” method of recruiting.
There is no doubt that those schools have had the most talent, but Kentucky, for example, has won just one national championship during the John Calipari era.
Meanwhile, Roy Williams has taken his teams to back-to-back national championship games with multi-year players. Some believe Williams is holding his players back early in their career, but others see it as Williams’ way of developing talent.
Like the man or not, he has shown time after time his ability to win without a team comprised solely of blue chip recruits.
But for this piece, we took it a different route.
We look at the recruits that Williams missed on, and consider the possibilities if they had committed to UNC rather than the school they ultimately chose.
This list is made up of several NBA all-stars, a scoring champ, an NBA champion, and three No. 1 overall picks.
Without further ado, here is the all-time “what if” team.