That now-much-remembered quote was a self-defacing reference to his ability to instantly restore greatness to North Carolina's basketball program after the down slope -- by Tar Heels standards -- of the disappointing record that marked the period between Bill Guthridge's three seasons and Williams' eventual arrival from Kansas.

Williams agreed to take the job, in relief of his former Kansas assistant Matt Doherty, in 2003-04.

A season later, the Tar Heels defeated Illinois in St. Louis for a national championship, which provided the first evidence that Ol' Roy was a lot better than his declared handicap on the No. 1 tee box.

And after Sunday's 108-77 NCAA East Regional second-round win over Arkansas in the RBC Center, Williams and the Heels are squarely in the hunt for what could be his second ring.

The logistics couldn't be more favorable, either. From the Raleigh sub-regional, the ACC champion Tar Heels now go back to Charlotte Bobcats Arena for the NCAA East Region semifinals. It's the same spot where they won the conference title a week ago. In fact, Carolina has played only one game outside the state borders since Feb. 12, when they won by one point at Virginia. The other was a 90-80 win at Boston College on March 1.

But there is a lot more to the still-budding Williams empire than the short drive from Chapel Hill to Raleigh and/or Charlotte. Less than 24 hours after Duke's surprising loss to West Virginia in a second-round West Region game in Washington, D.C., Williams and his players are all that's left of an ACC starting NCAA field of four teams.

At 34-2 overall and with point guard Ty Lawson apparently back to full speed, or close to it, the Heels looked to be on cruise control during the RBC wins over the Razorbacks and Mount St. Mary's.

Things will get more difficult, of course. Against East No. 4 seed Washington State on Thursday -- time to be determined by CBS -- the Heels will face a better, more experienced and more confident foe. Eventually, in Charlotte, Tennessee may have to be dealt with.

Down the road, perhaps at the San Antonio Final Four, there could be a much anticipated UNC vs. Kansas game, then maybe even the ultimate test of offense vs. defense should Carolina to have to confront UCLA.

"One game in the tournament really doesn't have anything to do with the next," Williams said. "[At Kansas] one time in the conference tournament, we won by something like 40 points one day, and everybody was asking us about how good it felt to be peaking at the right time. The next day, we lost. So this weekend doesn't have anything to do with what we'll do at Charlotte."

Ol' Roy's dead-on about that. Among the many lures of the NCAA Tournament is that everything changes from week to week, day to day, even first half to second half -- as Davidson established against Georgetown earlier Sunday in the RBC Center.

But heading into the third round of this NCAA Tournament, Carolina is right there with UCLA and Williams' former Kansas crowd as the hottest teams on what's left of the bracket sheets. He may not win it all again. But to put it into the folksy words he might use, the coach and his team are "pretty dadgum good."