Jason Williams: Is UNC Still A Blue Blood? Grant Hill: Yes

So this is interesting: former Duke greats Jason Williams and Grant Hill disagree about whether UNC is still a Blue Blood or not. Both of them grew up Carolina fans before they developed more refined taste, incidentally.

Williams argues that UNC is no longer a Blue Blood, that they’ve fallen off for too long. Hill counters that UNC has won a championship more recently than has Duke, and has been to a Final Four more recently too, both of which are undeniably true.

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It’s an interesting question, really.

The traditional Blue Bloods – a stupid term, by the way – are roughly this:

A more contemporary list is closer to this:

You no doubt have a few schools you might like to add or subtract. The funny thing is, with the game in such flux, it really is hard to define. Take Kentucky.

Kentucky legend Dan Issel said something truly funny the other day: when everyone is paying players, it’s harder to cheat. It’s funny, but there is truth to it. In fact, we were told by a former Kentucky player that Wildcat players were absolutely paid.

No one knows what will happen to Kansas when Bill Self retires, but like a lot of older coaches, he’s tailed off at the end of his career. In the last four years, Kansas has not made it out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, and they’ve finished 5th, 6th, and 3rd in the Big 12 in the last three seasons – this after finishing 1st or tied for 1st for 14 straight years.

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What happens when he steps down? No one knows.

Duke and UNC approached succession quite differently. Mike Krzyzewski and Jon Scheyer worked closely together in Coach K’s final season. Scheyer won over his own recruits and built his team his way. It was an astonishing succession, nearly perfectly executed.

In Chapel Hill, Roy Williams stepped down and made it clear that Hubert Davis was his preferred replacement.

As it turned out, Davis didn’t communicate with his players very well, coached teams that were wildly erratic, and was dismissed…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jason-williams-unc-still-blue-113500083.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-01 11:35:00

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