GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Mark Few lifted the transition game he used for years at Gonzaga from Roy Williams’ playbook. When Few first started going on those Nike-sponsored vacations that coaches take during the offseason, it was the North Carolina coach and his wife who made the Fews feel welcome.
The last time Few and Williams’ teams met in the NCAA Tournament, they took a late-night road trip to a casino two days before the game and they have played enough cards together that Few has taught his kids a version of seven-card stud nicknamed “Roy Williams.”
The third and most meaningful meeting between Few’s Bulldogs and Williams’ Tar Heels comes Monday night at the University of Phoenix Stadium in the NCAA championship game. Williams, 66, can become the sixth coach to win at least three NCAA titles, joining John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight and Jim Calhoun.
For Few, the championship would be the first for him and Gonzaga, a program that he tried to build in the mold of Williams’.
“Absolutely, he’s a mentor, somebody that I looked up to when I was first getting in,” Few said Sunday.