Ol' Roy's Final Four record not that bad

Roy Williams is off to his seventh Final Four and the Tar Heels are installed as a 4-to-5 favorite to win the national title.

Yet, some UNC fans, or followers of Barack-a-tology, are worried Ol' Roy will screw up another Final Four.

Why?

In the grand scheme of things Ol' Roy is 1-for-6 at the Final Four but the overall record (4-5) and round-by-round numbers are more than respectable. Williams is 3-3 in the semifinals and 1-2 in the title game.

If you measure the six trips on the Ol'-Roy-o-Meter, it's more like: Acceptable Losses 3.5, Should Have Won 1.5, Won 1

Let's take a closer look at those individual years:

1991
Semifinals: beat UNC 79-73
Final: lost to Duke 72-65

Williams beats his mentor, Dean Smith, in the Final Four and then gets Duke, which just pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history (and the biggest in the semifinal round).

Are you really going to hold this loss against Roy?

1993
Semifinals: lost to UNC, 78-68

How can you be mad at anyone for losing to Dean in the Final Four? Another acceptable Final Four loss.

2002
Semifinals: lost Maryland, 97-88

A veteran Maryland team on a mission against Kansas' junior-based team. Make that three-for-three on the Roy-o-meter.

2003
Semifinals: beat Marquette, 94-61
Final: lost to Syracuse, 81-78

Senior-based team and Roy's second-best group at Kansas (behind the Paul Pierce-Raef LaFrentz-Jacque Vaughn trio) destroys Marquette and Dwyane Wade in the Final Four and then loses a game it should have won against a freshmen-based Syracuse team.

Score one for the Ol' Roy haters.

2005
Semifinals: beat Michigan State, 87-71
Final: beat Illinois, 75-70

Score one for Ol' Roy.

2008
Semifinals: lost to Kansas, 84-66

Should UNC have been more prepared and should have been more motivated? Absolutely. But, honestly, Kansas was just a better team than Carolina.

Split the difference here: Half for the Ol' Roy haters, half for Ol' Roy. -- J.P. Giglio