Roy Williams is one of the most accomplished coaches in NCAA Tournament history, but he saw one of his most incredible streaks end Sunday.
Williams’ North Carolina Tar Heels were blown out 85-62 in the first round of the tournament on Friday. The significance is simple: Williams entered Friday’s game 29-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament first-round games, meaning this defeat was the first of his career at this stage of the Big Dance.
Roy Williams loses a first-round NCAA game for the first time with a memorable thud. The No. 9 Badgers beat No. 8 UNC, 85-62. Williams is now 29-1 in first-round games.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 20, 2021
To put this in perspective, Williams has been a college head coach since 1988. His teams have reached the NCAA Tournament in all but three of those seasons, and one of the years he didn’t was 2020, when no tournament was held. That’s why Williams’ streak was one of the most durable and impressive in sports. It hardly matters that he’s had extremely good teams more often than not during that span. Give an underdog 29 chances against a favorite and the odds are they’ll probably win at least once.
It’s been a bad year for college basketball’s blue bloods, and even though Williams made the tournament, this just contributes to it. Don’t expect North Carolina’s rivals to have any sympathy here given the year they had, though.
