College basketball

Williams blocks out UCLA talk

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Kansas coach Roy Williams hasn't ruled himself out as a candidate for the vacant UCLA job.

But he doesn't believe such speculation is a distraction for his team.

"My team believes me and they know my focus is with them," Williams said Wednesday. "If you guys don't ask me, they would never know the question is out there.

"I have had no problems with distractions and it hasn't been a distraction to the guys. I have not talked to UCLA."

The 52-year-old Williams is completing his 15th season as Kansas coach and has a 415-100 career record.

Sophomore guard Aaron Miles said he expects Williams to remain at Kansas.

"If he's not going to take his dream job at North Carolina, where he grew up and played, he's not going to take the job at UCLA," Miles said.

Williams was offered the North Carolina job nearly three years ago, but turned it down.

The UCLA job opened March 17 when Steve Lavin was fired after seven years. Among others mentioned as candidates are Pittsburgh's Ben Howland, Gonzaga's Mark Few, Utah's Rick Majerus and Marquette's Tom Crean.

TOUGH CROWD: Notre Dame's Mike Brey is keeping some impressive company at the West Region.

His fellow coaches in Anaheim are Arizona's Lute Olson, a basketball Hall of Fame member, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Williams.

"Mike just knows people, he's just really a good guy," Krzyzewski said.

Brey spent eight years as a Duke assistant under Krzyzewski before getting his first coaching job at Delaware. Brey came to Notre Dame three years ago.

"You use all three of them as models. Certainly, my eight years in Durham with Mike had a huge influence on me," Brey said.

What did he learn?

"The first thing would be get a lot of good players," he said. "The daily competition and intensity that you need to run a program at this level, Mike was a great example of that. One of the things he made very clear when he hired me back in '87 was he didn't want anybody coming down there who didn't want to be a head coach."

PAST A PROBLEM: Krzyzewski said he believes Duke's past has been more of a burden than an advantage "because people have expected too much."

"The story would be to lose, not to win," he said. "They take on the image of before. I think it's made us a tougher team.

"What I did this year was not put any expectations on them. We've tried to coach this team based on its level of ability and experience."

Three freshmen are among the team's top six scorers, including J.J. Redick, who established himself early as one of the nation's finest outside shooters.

"I did not realize Redick would be such a huge factor so early," Krzyzewski said. "I thought he played as well as any freshman in the country. He's played like an upperclassman all year."

Returning starters Dahntay Jones and Chris Duhon have certainly done their part, emerging from the shadows of Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer.

"With us being underdogs, it's different for us," Duhon said. "It's definitely put a chip on our shoulder."

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