By Beth Rucker
Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. ó North Carolina coach Roy Williams can’t remember who told him spitting in the Mississippi River was good luck. That doesn’t mean he’s giving up the tradition.
Williams has been trying to find his way to the shores of the mighty Mississippi every chance he gets since the first time he spit in it at New Orleans in 1982.
He swears it wasn’t his idea to make a trip to Memphis’ Mississippi riverfront Sunday, but a few hours before the game he and the Tar Heels found themselves there.
“I don’t know how it happened, but today, as we were coming to the arena, the bus took a left turn, left turn, left turn,” Williams said. “And the police, they pulled over beside the river. I said, ‘Since we’re here, might as well go ahead. I don’t know who planned that.’
“I’ll tell you, I wish one time I’d do something a little more graceful and get credit for that as much attention as I get for spitting in the river.”
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BLOOD THICKER THAN ALMA MATER: Former North Carolina forward Jason Capel had no problem wearing Boomer Sooner red when Oklahoma faced his Tar Heels.
“For one day? Not at all. I was a Capel my whole life, way before I was a Tar Heel,” he said.
Capel was hoping to see his older brother, Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel, make it to the Final Four. Jason Capel helped lead North Carolina to the 2000 Final Four as a player.
Jason Capel still has plans to travel to Detroit next weekend. He was ribbed by some of his Tar Heel friends for wearing red, but he did at least have the blessings of the UNC coaching staff.
“I think the fans take it a lot more serious than we do,” he said. “The coaching staff, they told me, ‘You should root for your brother.’ ”
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PRO PROSPECTS: Williams compares Oklahoma star Blake Griffin to LeBron James. So does that mean he’s headed for the NBA to face King James?
“We’ll get to that when we ó at the appropriate time,” Jeff Capel said.
Playing all but two minutes, Griffin led the Sooners with 23 points against UNC.
The 6-foot-10, 251-pound sophomore drew double teams repeatedly but still averaged 28.5 points and 15 rebounds in Oklahoma’s four NCAA tournament games.
“He’s got such a package of strength, explosiveness, touch, power,” Williams said. “You know, it’s hard to match that. In person, when you’re sitting on that bench, it looks even more awesome than it does when I’m watching on TV.”
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WORTH NOTING: North Carolina’s win was its record 100th in NCAA tournament play. … The Tar Heels have now won nine of their last 10 regional finals. Their only loss in the streak was in 2007 to Georgetown. … Oklahoma never led in the game. Entering Sunday’s game, it had trailed in the tournament for 54 seconds against Morgan State and 4:46 against Michigan. … Oklahoma has now lost to UNC all three times the two schools have played.