Jay Williams questions UNC blue blood status

As the NCAA Tournament wrapped up the first two weekends, one of the biggest stories is in Chapel Hill right now.

Following North Carolina’s loss to VCU on Thursday, questions started to arise about the future of Hubert Davis and his future as head coach. As of Monday morning, no decision has been made but this continues to be the talk of the sport right now.

And a former UNC rival is starting to question the program’s blue blood status.

During a segment on ESPN’s “First Take” former Duke Blue Devils point guard Jay Williams was asked which blue blood program has the most concern right now? Williams had an interesting answer suggesting that they may not be a blue blood anymore.

“There’s no question, it’s North Carolina,” Williams said. “I’m saying this, growing up as a North Carolina fan. If North Carolina didn’t have that logo, I’m not sure we’d be talking about them as a blue blood. Over the last five years since Covid. Relevancy is currency. I can make a case that they’re not a top 5 current, relevant team in college basketball, which is crazy.”

Williams went on to put up his top five most relevant brands in college basketball going back to Covid. He named UConn, Duke, Kansas, Houston and Kentucky. He points to titles for UConn but for Duke, he went with back-to-back national players of the year as well as three No. 1 recruiting classes.

His reason for Kentucky? Big Blue Nation.

But what Williams failed to mention is North Carolina has been to the title game more recent than Duke and Kentucky have. North Carolina also had one of the biggest wins in NCAA Tournament history, beating Duke in the Final Four.

Being a blue blood is a legacy. We get what Williams is trying to get at. It does feel like UNC is in a critical spot here over the past five years. But to say they aren’t a blue blood still is just not true.