Lucas: Ready To Rush

By Adam Lucas

Kenny Williams has accomplished a little bit of everything in his Carolina career, but the one thing left on his list simply cannot happen—at least, not this year.

The senior guard has been part of an ACC championship team and an NCAA championship team. He's made two trips to the Final Four. He's been the player struggling to put the ball in the basket whose teammates rejoice when he finally nails a three-pointer, and he's been the designated sharpshooter.

But as he enters his senior season, he says there's still one thing he'd like to experience as a Tar Heel. Unfortunately for him, it's not doable.

More on that later. Right now, Williams and his teammates have been through a week and a half of practice for the 2018-19 season. As his thoughts turn to his leadership role as a senior, he's still a little amazed at the summer he just experienced. Williams was one of the players who most enjoyed the preseason trip to the Bahamas, which featured a pair of exhibition games mixed with a healthy amount of team-building activities.

"That was my first time out of the country," he says. "It was the most beautiful thing I've seen. Waking up and being able to look out over the ocean, with the water so clear, was amazing."

"Water," as he says, "is definitely not my thing." But Williams' teammates even persuaded him to try a few of the Atlantis waterslides, and he took part in the team's snorkeling outing.

Upon returning home, Williams participated in the alumni weekend with a variety of events that mixed the current team with the hundreds of lettermen who returned to Chapel Hill. The event reminded him of one of his favorite parts of being a Tar Heel.

"I still can't get over how amazing it is to be part of Carolina Basketball," Williams says. "It's not everywhere you can go to school and on a weekend in August, have guys who played here 30, 40 and 50 years ago who want to fellowship together. That's what makes this place so special. We really value the family. You're never alone. Everywhere you go for the rest of your life you will have someone from Carolina who looks after you and someone who sees you as family because you wore that Carolina jersey."

Williams and classmate Luke Maye have won a dozen NCAA Tournament games over the past three seasons; they've got a shot at winning the most NCAA games of any player in the Roy Williams era (the mark is 14, set by a host of Tar Heels) and even a chance to win the most NCAA Tournament games of any Carolina player in history (Pat Sullivan's 16). The ultimate goal, of course, is becoming the first Tar Heels ever with two national title rings.

But they have no chance this season at achieving one of Kenny Williams' most long-held goals. That will have to wait until he's an alumnus.

"After a big win, after Coach Williams talks to us, we go on our phones and see video of people running to Franklin Street," Kenny Williams says. "It looks like so much fun. That's something I've always wanted to do is rush Franklin after a big win or a national championship. We always hear about how much fun it is and I've always wanted to try it."

He is reminded that anyone who rushes Franklin Street this season will likely be doing so in part because of a big effort from a certain Kenny Williams. He grins.

"That's true," he says. "If people are rushing Franklin this season, then I'm probably in a good spot. I can be OK with not being part of the rushing for this year."

University of North Carolina Athletics

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